The Truth Decayed
by kairidreamers
Summary: The sequel to The Truth Enslaved. Every couple has its ups and downs. Yet, when it comes to Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler things never appear that black and white. Seto/Joey with some Bakura/Malik
1. Nothing's Changed

KD: Hey peoples! We're back and with another story for one of the best known yaoi pairings known to fandom, Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler! We do not own Yugioh or the characters. We only own the characters we make up, like Kit.

**Chapter One: Nothing's Changed**

_Song for chapter:_

_Bliss by Buckcherry_

Things never go like you expect them to. If Joey could go back just a little over a year and tell himself what was going to happen, he would never have believed it. For one thing, he was dating the last person he ever expected to want to be with; his once sworn enemy, Seto Kaiba. Not only was he dating him, but also living with him. Yeah… unbelievable wasn't even the word to describe.

He remembered when it all started. How he stood in Kaiba's office after applying for a job at Kaiba Land, which he unexpectedly received. It was a costume job and Seto was the one who took his measurements for the fitting. Now here he was, roughly a year later, getting his measurements taken again. He hit a growth spurt over the year, and Seto was very OCD when it came to precision.

"You know the drill, Wheeler," Seto said, holding the measuring tape.

Joey removed his jacket, and then began unbuttoning his undershirt slowly, taking his time in a very teasing manner. The last time Joey was in Seto's office like this, he was more modest, embarrassed to take his shirt off in front of the CEO. This time was different though, Joey was almost proud to show himself off in front of Kaiba.

"I don't have all day," Seto commented impatiently, making it clear he wasn't interested in Joey's strip tease. Joey's shirt was finally off, and Seto started to measure him. "You have grown three inches, Wheeler," Seto said writing down the new measurements on his notepad. As Seto was writing down the measurements, Joey too anxiously took down his pants, ready to get his stride measured. "I hope you're not expecting anything, Wheeler. I am at work after all."

Joey turned red at this. "Of course not, I just want ta get this over with," Joey said quickly in rebuttal to Seto. He allowed the CEO to continue his measurements, quickly jotting down all his new lengths. Seto sat back at his desk, typing away at his computer thinking that Joey would just up and leave.

"You can go now, Wheeler. I have work to finish," Seto said his eyes not moving away from the computer screen as usual.

This made Joey a little upset. They have been together seriously for several months now, and Seto hadn't changed all that much; he was as much of a work-a-holic as ever. It had been at least two weeks since they had seen each other; Seto was on one of his usual work 'retreats' and Joey was stuck in the mansion with Mokuba, playing video games to pass the time. This was the first time that they've seen one another, and the sexual anxiety was building up in Joey. Seto on the other hand, was too worked up into his business to even think about his sexual desires.

Well, Joey Wheeler wasn't going to leave without a fight. The blonde walked over to where Seto was sitting, still clad in only his boxers. He moved behind Seto and bent down placing his hands on the back of the chair and kissed Seto on the cheek. Seto did not react or say anything but continued staring at the computer screen. Joey knew this game. Seto was planning to ignore him in the hopes that he would just give up. If he honestly believed that was going to work, he obviously still knew very little about Joey.

Joey moved himself so that he was on his knees in between Seto's legs, lifting up Seto's black shirt and began nipping at the smooth yet toned flesh of his abdomen. He stayed in one place with the intention of leaving a mark. Joey felt cool fingers suddenly place themselves beneath his chin and lifted his head up, both interrupting the blonde's progress and forcing Joey to look at Seto who appeared rather annoyed.

"Wheeler, were you trying to give me a hickey just now?" Seto asked.

Joey smiled, feeling a spark of triumph. "What would give you that idea, Kaiba?"

Seto's eyes narrowed and he removed his hand. "I've already told you, mutt. I don't have time to play with you."

"Kaiba, we live together, sometimes even sleep together, and yet I've barely seen you in the past two weeks. Don't ya know that kinda thing's unhealthy for a relationship?" Joey told him.

"Has that weird Egyptian friend of yours been sending you more relationship articles again?"

"Can't I at least have a kiss goodbye?" Joey requested, attempting to compromise.

Seto grunted a bit, "Fine." Joey stood up a bit and leaned forward towards Seto. The CEO tried to make the kiss short and simple, but as soon as he tried pulling back, Joey leaned in more, not letting the kiss come to an end. "Wheeler…" he grumbled, as he finally broke away from the kiss, only to be pulled back in by Joey, their tongues colliding together in the process.

Joey sat on Seto's lap, deepening the kiss, making sure his lover was fully distracted. Breaking away from the kiss, Joey moved to Seto's ear, gently nibbling at the lobe. Joey was expecting Seto to say something like, 'You impatient pup, you couldn't wait until we got home,' and trying to push him off, but Seto said nothing of the sort. Joey's tongue softly licked up and down the edge of his ear, but was soon sidetracked, when he felt Seto's hand enter inside his boxers. Joey let out a muffled moan, knowing that he couldn't make too much noise with Seto's secretary sitting outside the office door.

Seto's hand slowly moved up and down making Joey harder, and then quickly pulling away. "Jerk." Joey moaned, wanting Seto to continue what he started. He lifted up Seto's shirt once again and lightly fondled the brunette's nipples, being gentle, applying just enough pressure, to get him turned on. Joey could feel Seto pulsing beneath him, which turned him on more.

Joey slinked off Seto's lap, back onto the ground kneeling, unbuttoning Seto's pants, feeling Seto's warmth getting more excited. Joey looked up to his boyfriend's face, and as usual, it looked stoic, unlike Joey's face that was one always longing for more. _"Why can't he ever show that he is enjoying it?" _Joey thought, and his fingers lightly danced on top of Seto's unzipped pants, feeling it getting harder and harder.

Joey thought he heard Seto hold back his moans of pleasure, but he soon stood up from his chair, almost bending over on his desk. Joey took advantage of this and lightly pulled down Seto's pants a few inches, allowing his manhood to be released. Joey sensually licked the tip of it before devouring it in his whole mouth. Seto's body tensed up, causing Joey to stop in confusion. The brunette grabbed his lover and pulled him up from off the ground. Kaiba moved away from the desk, and gently slammed Joey into the desk face first.

Joey figured this would happen; Seto was never good at being on the receiving end. He would on occasion try, but it always ended up with Joey still being on the bottom. Seto pulled down Joey's boxers, and stuck his moistened finger deep into him, loosening him up. Joey released a moan, forgetting that he was still in Seto's office, and just focusing on the pleasure before him. Once Seto felt that Joey was loose enough, he stuck himself inside of him, rocking quite quickly and harshly inside of him.

Joey couldn't suppress his groans anymore with how harsh Seto was being inside of him. The ferocity of it made the blonde think that his lover had been holding back his frustrations too this whole time. Seto's hand began stroking Joey just as rough, to match the thrusting.

_Ring Ring._

Seto looked to his phone and saw that it was ringing. _"Please tell me he's not gonna answer it." _Joey thought in his head as it rang a few more times.

"Yes," Seto said as soon as Joey heard the ringing stop. Seto had moved his hand from Joey's member and onto his mouth instead, muffling the cuss words that he knew he was getting right now. Seto was still driving hard into Joey. "I understand," Seto continued listening intently to the person on the other side. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Seto hung up the phone and moved his hand from Joey's mouth, "…insensitive ass." Was all Seto heard from Joey's rant. Seto didn't reply, but continued to satisfy Joey as if the phone call didn't happen at all. Joey's body felt light once again after Seto finished him off, but the annoyance towards the CEO was still running strong. Kaiba cleaned off his hand, and zipped up his pants, once again going back to his work.

"What the hell kinda guy answers the phone in the middle of something like that?" Joey demanded, towering over Kaiba once his was able to stand again.

"I wasn't kidding when I said I was busy, pup," Seto told him with a small smirk, finishing up what he needed before closing his laptop and packing it up into his brief case. "Next time, maybe you'll be patient and wait for your master to come home."

Joey growled before grabbing his clothes and putting them back on in his huff. Seto stood from his chair, taking his briefcase with him, and walked past Joey. When he reached the door he looked back at Joey in mild annoyance. "Were you planning on spending the rest of the day in my office?"

Joey scowled but followed Seto out of the office and into the elevator. Due to the elevator having surveillance cameras in it, they couldn't act friendly, and after what happened in the office, this came all too easily for the both of them. Halfway down the agonizingly long elevator ride, Joey suddenly remembered what he'd almost forgotten to ask Seto about.

"Hey, Kaiba, any way you might be able to clear your schedule for Saturday?" Joey asked, keeping his gaze averted from the CEO.

Unexpectedly Seto actually answered. "What did you have in mind?"

"Just going out, maybe for a movie or… something," Joey answered vaguely.

Seto thought for a few moments, "I may be able to clear some time." The elevator door finally opened and Seto walked out heading towards to conference room without saying goodbye to Joey. Joey left Kaiba Corp, he had the rest of the day off and was not sure what to do. He started to head to the arcade thinking that he might see his friends there.

"Hey, Joey," Joey turned around to see the peppy voice. "Didn't have to work today?"

"Oh, hey, Yug," Joey said relieved to see one of his friends. "No I have today off. Wanna hang out?"

Yugi smiled excitedly. "Sure." The two teens began walking around town, talking about what they have been up to over break, and children's card games.

Joey felt his phone go off, opening up hoping to see an apology text from Kaiba, but this was wishful thinking. Instead he saw he that the text was from Malik.

_:) Success! _

Joey closed the phone quickly. _"I guess he was able to get Bakura to agree after all. Saturday will be interesting to say the least."_

Joey and Yugi said goodbye for the day and Joey continued back towards his new home at Kaiba's mansion. No one knew that they were living together yet, with the exception of Malik and Bakura. Joey went into the house seeing Mokuba in the living room, talking on the phone with Seto who was going to be at work late once again. After one year, nothing truly had changed between the two teenagers, and Joey wondered how long it was going to be like that.

* * *

><p>Bakura opened the door of his apartment and wondered why Malik wasn't there to greet him. Usually he had to duck just to avoid the welcome home glomping. There wasn't even the smell of his kitchen being burnt down. All the lights were off and there was no sign of the tomb keeper anywhere. Bakura couldn't help but feel as if he was walking into a trap, and it was his own home for goodness sake! Shrugging off the feeling, he removed his jacket and decided to go take a shower to help him forget how pointless and uneventful his life was steadily becoming. Life just wasn't the same without stealing people's souls.<p>

He opened the door to his bathroom and was nearly blinded by what he saw. The entire bathroom had been redecorated with rose petals, fluffy towels and bathmats… and dear god there were even scented candles all over the place.

"Welcome home, Bakura," Malik said sitting on the edge of the round, sunken bathtub that was filled with steaming water layered over with bubbles. He was clad only in his jeans, showing off his surprisingly toned, tan figure. "I've been waiting for you so we can talk about something very important."

"Malik, I'm really not in the mood, and this atmosphere makes me want to kill something. Namely you," Bakura said pointedly.

"You don't mean that," Malik said playfully beckoning with a finger. "Now take off your clothes and get in. The water isn't going to stay hot forever."

"You can go straight to the shadow realm," Bakura said before turning to leave.

"Don't go, fluffikins!" Malik said engulfing him with his arms from behind.

"For the last time I am NOT a kitty," Bakura snapped.

"Is it really so much for a man to simply wish to have a casual conversation with his housemate while taking a nice relaxing bubbly bath with him?"

"I shouldn't even have to answer that," Bakura muttered.

"I'll give you a shoulder massage," Malik tempted, though he forcefully dragged Bakura back to the bathtub and began tearing his clothes off.

When Bakura tried stopping him, it turned into a minor wrestling match ending with both of them tumbling into the soapy water both still half dressed. Bakura tried to get out of the warm water, but Malik just pushed him back down. "Since we are already in, let's just enjoy it." Malik excitedly grabbed a loofa and began putting soap on it to scrub Bakura's back. "Now I was thinking Saturday that we could go out," Malik continued before Bakura could make any comments. "We could have dinner, go to a movie, walk around the park…"

Bakura finally interrupted Malik, "And why would I want to do any of that?"

"It's been forever since we have been out together. It will be fun," Malik said with his usual giddy enthusiasm.

"If I say yes will you let me get out of here?" Bakura snapped glaring at Malik.

Malik let Bakura get out of the tub after a few minutes of excited huggles and hair washing. "You better keep your promise, Fluffy," Malik said sternly before Bakura left the bathroom. Bakura just grumbled, slamming the bathroom door behind him.

Malik sighed, sinking neck deep into the hot water. His gazed turned to a floating rubber duck suspended on the water. "I guess you're the only one who'll ever understand me, right, Mr. Ducky?"

* * *

><p>KD: What a way to start a story huh? Doesn't it just make you all warm inside? Next chapter, the dreaded double date! How will it go? Stay tuned to find out. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. :)<p> 


	2. Public Boyfriends?

KD: Yay chapter two is up! Thanks to all you reviewers for your support. We really appreciate it.

**Chapter Two: Public Boyfriends?**

_Song for chapter:_

_Good Intentions by Finger Eleven_

Saturday evening rolled around quicker than Joey had expected. He was getting ready for the 'double date', or trying to, but was having a minor tiff with Seto, who once more forced Joey into an under armor shirts with a button up over shirt.

"Do I have to wear this?" Joey asked looking down at himself. "I told you I'm not into these types of clothes."

"Give it a rest, Wheeler," replied Seto as he straightened the cuff of his own jacket. "You actually look semi presentable."

"I look ridiculous," Joey retorted. His cell phone went off, momentarily interrupting the conversation. "Yello?" he said after pulling the phone out and answering it.

"Hey, man. It's Tristan," said the voice on the other end.

"Oh, hey buddy, what's up?" Joey asked as Seto approached him to fix his shirt collar that was sticking up on the right side.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the midnight showing of Monster Madness: Revenge of the Zombie Slayers Part 4," Tristan proposed.

"Sorry, dude, I kinda already made plans," Joey said while simultaneously trying to swat Seto's hand away. After fixing the collar Seto had then moved on to Joey's bangs, which as usual were a puffy mess to him.

"Seriously? That's a bummer," Tristan said in disappointment. "Whatcha up to?"

"Just… going out with some friends," Joey said ducking away as the brunette continued fussing with his hair.

"You mean Yugi and Tea?" Tristan asked.

"Ngh… sorry, Tristan, I gotta go," Joey said hanging up the phone before glaring at Seto. "Would ya quit that?"

"If you took the time to make yourself look presentable for our outing I wouldn't have to do this, Wheeler," Seto said looking over Joey one last time to make sure he looked presentable for their public excursion. Although Seto was never a fan of them going out in public together -he would much rather send their free time together in the mansion- he knew that Joey, like a puppy, could not be cooped up in a house every day. Therefore, if he was being forced to go out, he at least reserved the right to make Joey look respectable in his eyes. Seto was a public figure, so it's not only important that he keeps his image respectable, but also that of those around him. Joey understood this to a point, but thought Seto took it to the extreme in some cases. They were just going to a movie after all, not a Kaiba Corp party.

"Let's just go already," said Joey trying to head for the door hoping Seto would follow. "We need to get to the theater before it starts to get busy." Joey was totally oblivious to the conversation he just held with Tristan to realize he was going to the place that he just declined an invitation to. The two boys stepped outside and Roland pulled up with the car ready to take them to the theater.

Seto continued his attempts to fix Joey's hair and jacket in the car, constantly finding something wrong with him, but Joey fought back. Roland stopped the car a block before the theater in down town and the teens hopped out and began heading towards it. "What movie did you want to see anyways that we have to watch it in theater?" Seto asked as the theater became closer in their sight.

_"I never did think of a movie. After all, this was Malik's idea,"_ Joey thought not having an answer, and was just muttering um's at Seto, until a familiar voice was heard a few feet away.

"Look, Bakura, it's Joey and Seto. Who would have thought that we would have seen them here at the theater?" Malik said a tad too loudly and monotone, as if he rehearsed what he was going to say in front of a mirror. "Let's go say hi to them." Malik grabbed Bakura by the wrist, and dragged his partner to the two other teens. Seto looked to Joey and shot a glare at him, it was obvious that Seto heard the loud Egyptian's speech and was not amused by it. "Hello, Joey," Malik greeted enthusiastically. "Who would have thought we would run into each other at the theater tonight like this?"

Joey was embarrassed by Malik's pretend surprise, but he did agree to this plan, so he swallowed what little pride he had left and went through it. "Hey, Malik, Bakura," Joey said not sure what to say, he didn't think that far in advance. It was hard enough for him to pull Seto away from the computer, let alone think of anything else. "Seenin' a movie too?"

"Yes we are," Malik answered all too quickly. "How about we watch one together?" Malik looked over to Bakura, who like Seto, did not look amused with his boyfriend's actions this moment.

"Sure, Malik, would love ta," Joey said almost tempted to say no with the looks of annoyance Seto and Bakura had, it almost frightened him how alike they were in that sense.

"What movie should we watch then?" Malik said as the four boys, (two willingly and two begrudgingly) headed over to the box office to see what movies were playing.

"Monster Madness: Revenge of the Zombie Slayers Part 4 is the only one that sounds of interest to me." Bakura finally spoke, after briefly looking at the board. He, much like Seto, seemed to go along with the secret plan, due to the fact there was no way around it, and they were in public, where unknown eyes could be watching. Neither Seto nor Bakura wanted to make a public scene, which was hard enough to avoid with Malik around.

_"Why does that movie sound so familiar?" _Joey thought thinking hard on why he knew that movie title. _"Tristan!"_ Joey finally remembered it was the movie that Tristan invited him to. "NO!" Joey quickly said and got confused looks from Malik and Bakura, "Um…it's R, so we are not old enough to see it?" Joey lied not really knowing the movie rating.

"Well, I wanted to see The League of Superheroes 2: Return of Iron Fist," Malik said to Bakura slightly pouty, his arms firmly crossed about his chest.

"That one sounds good to me," Joey agreed wanting to avoid the other movie at all costs. "What about you Kaiba?" Joey asked hoping to get an opinion out of him, but knew Seto was not really into the typical teenage movie scene.

"Public Enemy looks like the only decent thing that's playing," Seto stated indifferently.

"But we can't go in that one," Bakura stated in a mocking voice. "It's rated _R_. Poor little Joey couldn't possibly handle something like that."

Before Joey could make a snappy comeback Seto touched his collar and asked Roland to meet them in front of the theatre. In no time flat, Roland appeared. "You called, sir?"

Roland of course was old enough to see a rated R movie, meaning that if he accompanied them into the theatre it would be perfectly fine. While Seto was at it, he decided to buy out the entire theatre playing Public Enemy, so that the four… er, five of them would have some privacy. They all got their snacks and went in time for the previews.

"I'm so excited," Malik gushed. "I've never thought we'd have an entire theatre to ourselves."

"With all the talking you do during movies, you more than compensate for a theatre full of people," Bakura stated.

"We're having a very long discussion when we get home, pup," Seto told him in a hushed tone as they sat down in their seats in dead center of the room.

"I'm looking forward to it," Joey muttered back.

Roland placed himself in the very back row, pretending as if he wasn't there but still keeping an eye on his employer.

Malik tried to put up the cup holder and snuggle close to Bakura, but was pushed away, and the cup holder was back down in place as soon as it was put up. Joey knew not to expect anything even inkling romance from Seto; the two had a hard enough time holding hands in their own house, let alone a theater with Malik, Bakura, and Roland hiding in the back.

The previews started, and Joey finally understood what Bakura meant when he said Malik would compensate for an entire theater. Malik made a comment for all eight movie previews, "Oooo look, Brad Pitt," or "I love Kathrine Heigl. Knocked Up was so funny."

_"I wonder if he is going ta talk like this the whole time,"_ Joey thought. As soon as he thought that he heard Bakura tell Malik to shut up, and Malik promising to stay quiet if they snuggled. However, that bargain did not go over with Bakura, and Malik was without his snuggles.

"I didn't know Johnny Depp was in this! I loved Sweeny Todd…." Bakura clamped up Malik's mouth so he could not continue his rant about how much he loved the actor. Joey looked over to Seto who was obviously intrigued by the movie thus far. He was staring at the screen with such intensity, it amazed Joey how he was able to block out the two guys fighting next to them. Joey tried to pay attention to the movie, but it was moving so slowly it was hard for him to keep interested.

In the back, Roland was paying attention to both the movie and the teens in the rows below him. _"Mr. Kaiba looks like he is enjoying himself."_ Roland knew that since Joey became a big part of Seto's life, his boss was slowly changing, and it made him happy to see he employer change in such a good way.

The movie was finally over and Joey did think overall it was an interesting movie, it moved a bit slow for him, but it started to pick up half way through. "So, whachya think Kaiba?" Joey asked as they stood up when the credits began to roll.

"It's was an interesting movie. I enjoyed the methods Purvis used to try to catch Dillinger. It was also fascinating how the public viewed Dillinger as a hero. It almost seemed like Purvis had a respect for Dillinger in that sense." Joey was a bit befuddled by Seto's analysis of the movie; all he got out of the movie was a cop and robber chase that went on far too long.

Roland made it down the stairs to meet up with the teenagers. "Mr. Kaiba, will you need me for anything else tonight?"

"Its fine, Roland, you can leave for now," Seto dismissed him. "I will call when need be." Roland left the four teens outside the theater to go off on their own for the rest of the night. They began walking down the sidewalk not heading anywhere in particular, until some bright lights that lit up the word Karaoke caught Malik's attention.

"Look, Bakura. Karaoke!" Malik said excitedly pointing towards the building covered in bright lights and posters in the windows.

"Everyone, walk faster," Bakura growled.

"Bakura, look," Malik said tugging on Bakura's sleeve. "Can we go? Please?"

"No, we're NOT going karaoke," Bakura stated. "Not after what happened last time."

For the first time that night, Malik's face became serious… almost dangerously so. "We're. Going. Karaoke," he said before grabbing Bakura and dragging him towards the Karaoke bar.

Joey slowly turned to look at Seto who was glaring down at him as if daring him to even ask. "It couldn't hurt, right?"

Seto took a deep inhalation through his nose before exhaling. "After this, I don't want to hear a word about how we never do what you want."

Joey gave his own sigh of relief as the two of them followed the other odd couple into the Karaoke bar.

* * *

><p>KD: Hoo boy. This outta be interesting huh? As for Malik's odd personality, we made him that way since he's not really featured much in the show while he's NOT trying to rule the world. So forgive us if he seems a little... off. See you next time!<p> 


	3. Wanted

KD: Third chapter is up, part two of the double date! Thanks again to you readers for your support and your reviews.

**Chapter Three: Wanted **

_Song for chapter:_

_Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi _

Upon entering they saw Malik had wasted no time taking over the stage while Bakura was in the farthest corner sulking. They wordlessly went over to where Bakura was sitting and sat down.

_"I don't' understand how those two are even able to function as a couple,"_ Joey thought watching Bakura. He quickly had to avert his gaze when the spirit's coffee brown glare directed towards him.

"Hello, gentlemen," a waitress said approaching there table. "Can I get you started off with something to drink?"

"I'll take a full bottle of Bombay Sapphire," Bakura told her, his ring glinting malevolently. "And yes, I AM legal."

The girl didn't seem to want to question this so she quickly moved on to Seto and Joey. "And you, sirs?"

"I'll have a root beer," said Joey.

"Coffee for me," Seto stated.

"The coffee machine is broken, but we do have our famous espresso," she told him.

"That's fine."

After the girl was gone, Joey felt like he was almost being smothered by the heavy atmosphere Seto and Bakura combined were producing. He tried to focus on Malik who was currently singing a song he didn't recognize that included the lyrics 'can I get your number baby'. Joey watched Malik perform and he wasn't… all together terrible. A little… okay perhaps very tone deaf; but the guy at least knew how to have fun, and he more than made up for his bad singing with his killer dance moves. The crowd was really into the energy that Malik was producing that they never noticed how tone deaf he actually was. After the song was over, a bunch of people started to clap and scream for another song, _"They must be drunk ta think that singing was good."_ Malik headed over to the table to join the others.

"Bakura did you like my song?" Malik asked as he sat down next to him, but before Bakura could answer Malik said, "Let's sing a duet together."

"Do I look drunk to you?" Bakura asked hypothetically.

"Joey, will you sing with me then?" Malik said grabbing him by the coat sleeve.

"Ummm…" Joey started, and looked to Seto for an answer, but the blue eyes looked amused with the thought of the puppy singing in front of a stage. "Sure, Malik. But no pop. How about something rock instead?" Joey said knowing he would regret this later. It's not that Joey didn't enjoy singing. He actually enjoyed it, but he never sung in front of people (he was more of a sing in the shower kind of guy), let alone a crowd who was probably more drunk than sober.

The two teens got up and moved over to the sing book to find a song they could agree on.

The waitress finally came back with the drinks and placed them on the table. "Can I get you gentlemen anything else?" she asked as she placed Seto's cup down.

"One more glass for the gin." Bakura said as he moved closer to Seto.

"Kaiba, how about we make this night more interesting?" Bakura asked as he opened up his bottle of blue alcohol. "Let's turn the idiots' singing into a drinking game. Every time Malik messes up you take a shot, and every time Joey messes up I'll take a shot."

Seto turned his head to Bakura, "What makes you think I would do something as foolish as that?"

Bakura smirked, "I guess the rich CEO is too afraid to play a little drinking game. I should have known. Men like you can't handle your liquor."

Bakura was egging Seto on and it was working. Seto was not one to refuse a challenge of any kind, especially when it was presented in such a manor, i.e. bashing his pride. The waitress brought over the other shot glass and Seto snatched it, "I'll play your game Bakura. I drink alcohol like you drink afternoon tea." Seto said, pouring the liquor into his glass. Joey and Malik finally got a stage and started to sing 'Wanted dead or Alive' by Bon Jovi. This song fit the mood between the two couples perfectly right now; the two at the table were not very pleased with their partners at the deceit of the double date.

Joey:

It's all the same, only the names will change

Every day it seems I'm wasting away

Malik:

Another place where the faces are so cold

I'd drive all day just to get back home

Joey: I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride

Both: I'm wanted dead or alive

Wanted dead or alive

Joey:

Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days

And the people I meet always go their separate ways

Malik:

Sometimes you tell the day

By the bottle that you drink

And times when you're alone all you do is think…I'm a rocket man, Oh no no no a rocket man

Both: I'm wanted dead or alive

Wanted dead or alive

Malik:

I walk these streets, a loaded six string strapped on my back

I play for keeps, 'cause I might not make it back…Dead or alive

Joey:

I been everywhere, and I'm standing tall

I've seen a billion faces an I've rocked them all

Both:

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride

I'm wanted dead or alive

I'm a cowboy, I got the night on my side

I'm wanted dead or alive

And I ride, dead or alive

I still drive, dead or alive

Dead or alive

Dead or alive

Dead or alive

Dead or alive

After the two boys finished performing, Joey felt, embarrassed, he only messed up on a few words, but Malik all together started to sing Rocket Man by Elton John half way through the song. Despite that fact, the crowd really didn't seem to care, they were clapping and screaming all excitedly. Joey looked at their faces and pretty much the whole crowd had cheeks flushed pink from the alcohol they were consuming. Joey looked over to Seto, who like the rest of the crowd had cheeks just a flushed. Bakura was talking to Seto, but he could not make out what they were saying.

"Why the hell did I agree to this again?" Seto thought, his brain racing with the venomous poison. "Usually I only drink a single glass of wine or on rare occasions scotch or brandy." Seto was still taking his last shots from the part where Malik broke out into the completely wrong song. Bakura was "kind" enough though to "lessen" the Rocket Man mess up shots to only 5 instead of 11 like it would have been however, Seto's pride was too big for him to take the offer.

"I'm surprised you are not on the ground dying of a liver infection with all the shots you took." Bakura said, noting the fact that Seto had what both thought was 15 shots of the clear liquid, but they had lost count somewhere along the way and 15 had only turned into 8 ( just a note A 140 (seto weights 143)lb man would reach 0.45% BAC after 17 drinks). Where Bukura only had 2 shots and felt slightly buzzed, but he could handle his liquor in this situation better than Seto could. Even though the drinking game was over for Bakura he was still downing more shots for the hell of it.

"Why is it so warm in here?" Seto thought as he took off his jacket, "Oh Joey is coming over; I wish he would take that jacket off…"

"Kaiba are you ok?" Joey asked looking at his boyfriend only to see he cheeks flushed red and his cobalt eyes glazed over and pupils constricted. "Have you been drinking?" Joey looked down to see that Seto's coffee cup was still full and that there was a used shot glass next to it.

"Kaiba and I played a little game while you were away." Bakura said, not showing any signs of drunkenness besides the flushed cheeks.

"Bakura why did you do that!" Malik and Joey both said in protest.

"Being drunk is they only way I would enjoy myself at a place like this." Bakura took a drink from the bottle itself now instead of the glass he was using.

Before the other two boys could protest more, a few girls came over to the boys table. They were tipsy, and Joey could smell they alcohol they were radiating along with that of Bakura and Seto. "Are you guy like a boy band or something?" One of the girls asked with a martini in hand.

"Ya, like are you guys. Cause you're like all totally too hot to not be one?" One of the other girls chimed in as she took a sip of a drink Joey didn't recognize. "you're the pretty one." She said pointing to Malik, "You're the funny one" she then pointed to Joey. "You're the badass" she now pointed to Bakura. "And you're the serious one." She pointed to Seto last, who was obviously in his own world now.

_"I need to call Roland and get Seto out of here" _Joey thought looking for Seto's jacket, knowing it was a direct link to Roland. He saw the jacket dangling off of the chair and snatched it away. "Roland it's Joey, can you come to the Karaoke bar a few blocks down the street from the theater we have a problem."

"Don't call Roland" Seto protested, "As his employer he should not see me in this state. It sets a bad example for the office." Seto thought he was sounding professional, but in reality it was just a drunken slur.

In no time flat, Roland was entering the bar in a panic looking for Seto and Joey. He saw them in the back corner and marched over.

"Leaving already? It was just starting to get interesting." Bakura said as he noticed Roland making his way over.

"Mr. Wheeler what happened to Mr. Kaiba?" Roland looked as shocked as he could behind his sunglasses.

"I'll tell you in the car. Can you help me with him?" Joey said trying to get Seto out of the chair, but kept rambling on.

"Roland, you really shouldn't call me Mr. Kaiba all the time" Seto said as he was being led to the car, "After all I'm only 17 and you're ten yours older than me. You should call me Seto, and I should call you Mr. Roland." Joey was in a state of shock at what Seto would ramble on about.

"It's ok Mr. Kaiba, I'm fine with just being called Roland." He said as he helped set his boss into the seat of the car. Joey followed in after Seto was buckled up.

"And Joey, you should call me Seto." He continued. Joey looked at Seto, still amazed about Seto's drunken rambles. "We are boyfriends after all so we should stop being so formal….but I still get to call you mutt and pup."

Joey looked to Roland for some advice or help on what to say, Roland looked back at Joey and signed to him to just go with the conversation. "It's ok Kaiba. I prefer your last name anyways." Was all Joey could think of saying.

"No. Call me Seto." He protested back, "I won't leave this car until you call me Seto." He said as the pulled up to the mansion.

Joey took a deep breath, "Se…Se…Se…I can't do it Kaiba." He said with a sigh, "Let's just get you into the house and into bed." Joey said as Roland opened the door for them.

"Fine, but join me in bed then. I want you on top tonight." Seto said getting out of the car. Joey turned red because Seto actually admitted they had sex in front of Roland. Granted, he was drunk, but still it was embarrassing to Joey. Roland just acted like he never heard the comment and proceeded to help Seto out of the car and up to his room.

Joey sat in the living room and waited to have his talk with Roland. After several minutes Roland came down the stairs and entered the living room. "So. Mr. Wheeler what happened while I was gone?"

"Well Seto got 'persuaded' to take part in a drinking game. And well he ended up losing. If I knew it was happening I woul'a stopped him, but when I came back to him, he was already like this"

"It's ok Mr. Wheeler. It's not your fault. This happened to Mr. Kaiba once before a few years back." Roland said as he took off his sun glasses to clean them.

"What happened?" Joey asked.

"Mr. Kaiba was at one of Mr. Pegasus many soirees and well he also participated in a drinking game. He let his ego get the best of him and of course he lost. He was only 15. I should not have let him out of my sight that day either, but things happen." Roland put his sun glasses back on, "Well Mr. Wheeler it's getting late and we should both retire for the night." Roland stood up and headed to the opposite side of the mansion to his living quarters to sleep.

Joey walked up the stairs and headed to Seto's room, he was hoping that the CEO was joking about the being on top, and convinced himself that I was just a joke.

Once he was in the bedroom Joey sat on Seto's bed and helped him out of his day clothes since he looked half passed out on the bed. When he tried to get Seto into his PJs, the brunette pulled Joey down and smothered the blonds' mouth with his. It was intense, skipping any sort of gentle build up. He might have enjoyed it more if Seto's mouth wasn't saturated with the taste of sweet alcohol. Joey lost his balance as one of Seto's hands gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him down on top of the CEO. As tempting as the offer was, Joey broke off the kiss as soon as was allowed.

"I wasn't kidding, Joey," Seto told him in his gruff slur. "I want you on top tonight."

"Kaiba… I think ya really need ta sleep," Joey said trying to get off of Seto. Granted, he would have normally welcomed the opportunity, but it just didn't feel right. Plus he didn't want to be on top if Seto wasn't even going to remember enjoying it.

"I don't want sleep, Wheeler," Seto said obstinately. "I want you."

"Yeah, you say that now," Joey said pushing himself off. He had other reasons for not wanting to take advantage of Seto. He didn't want to risk Seto actually remembering. He continued getting Seto dressed in his night clothes, albeit with some difficulty. "Go to sleep, Kaiba," Joey told him. "If you don't I won't let you ride the Ultimate Blue Eyes White Dragon tomorrow."

"Do I look like a little kid to you right now Wheeler?" Seto asked. "I may still be drunk, be I still has some of my senses intact."

"Well ya do kinda act like one when you're drunk." Joey said under his breath, hoping Seto would not hear it. "Just go to sleep Kaiba. You will need it for what awaits you in the morning." Joey had seen his father's ghastly appearance and attitude in the morning after being seriously drunk and it was never fun. He could only imagine the massive headache and trip to the bathroom Seto would have as soon as he woke up.

Seto grumbled in the bed and turned the opposite way so he was facing away from Joey. The room was quiet, but it was hard for Joey to sleep; he was too busy worrying about Seto to sleep. _"I really hope I never see this side of Kaiba again. He really needs ta learn how to control his ego when a challenge is thrown at him; especially one with drinking."_ Seto turned around in the bed and Joey saw his sleeping face and was relieved that he did fall asleep instead of persisting the later. _"It's probably my only chance to be on top willingly. But I'll do it on my own, that way Kaiba will remember every minute of it."_ Joey finally was able to fall asleep, but the dreading morning for Seto came all too soon.

* * *

><p>KD: Hehe, poor Seto. This is why you don't get into drinking games with the living incarnation of darkness. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	4. No Tail

KD: We must say we're really saddened by the lack of reviews. We had this same problem with our last stroy. Lots of people reading, favoriting and all that, but no one reviewing. We're hoping that will change. Reviews are what keep us interested in continuing the story after all. So anyway, hope you enjoy the chap.

**Chapter Four: No Tail **

_Song for chapter:_

__This is Living –Steven Strait_ _

As expected, the next morning Seto did not wake in the best of moods. His head was pounding and his stomach wasn't in the best of conditions either. He couldn't remember anything that happened after being dragged into some stupid Karaoke bar with Joey and his weird friends. He sat up and found Joey sleeping next to him. Seto rubbed his eyes which ached from being exposed to the morning light. _"Stupid mutt didn't even bother closing the curtains before going to bed." _He forced himself out of bed and began making himself some coffee, and soon the room was filled with the potent aroma. As the coffee was perking, the pup stirred awake.

"Mm, morning," Joey said, sitting up and giving a loud yawn. "How ya feeling?"

Seto glared crankily at him in answer.

"Yeah, that's what I figured," Joey mumbled before getting out of bed. "So what do you remember from last night?" Joey asked, he figured it was not the greatest of all question for the cranky CEO, but he figured it was the best way to get the brain moving.

Seto poured his cup of coffee and began to take several gulps of it. "I remember going to the Karaoke Bar." Seto paused to pour another cup and drink it, it was almost like the gin erased all coffee from Seto's bloodstream and he had to replenish it. "Then I remember Bakura and I making a bet and that's about it." Seto drank another cup of coffee and noticed Joey seemed to be relieved about something, _"I wonder if I said something that the mutt doesn't want me to remember. I can tell by his body language that he obviously is relieved about something, but what is it."_ Seto poured a third cup of coffee, "Why do you ask Wheeler?" Seto saw the Joey's body tensed up as he paused for a few minutes before speaking.

"No reason Kaiba, just trying to get your brain running is all. Hangovers are never easy. Well at least it seemed that way for my old man." Joey finally said after his moments of thought. Seto drank his coffee not pleased with the blond's response. "Ya know Kaiba, if you knew how to control your ego, this wouldn't have happened."

"I don't need a lecture from you about the foolishness I took part in last night." Seto grumbled after drinking his coffee and seeing the pot on the table no longer had the dark liquid in it. _"Then again, if we just stayed home as usual, none of this would have happened."_ Seto thought, keeping the last bit to himself. His head pounding and a spat with Joey would not bode well right now.

Joey heard his phone on the nightstand go off and he used that as a perfect excuse to distract himself from having to make up any more excuses. He picked up the phone and saw he had a new message. He opened the message and what he saw surprised him.

It read: _"Thanks for bailing on me. Hope you're happy with your new gang."_

Joey stared at the message in confusion. Who would…? The hand holding the phone tightened its grip over the plastic. Tristan. "Um, Kaiba, I'm gonna head out for a while," he said as began heading out the door.

"Shouldn't you at least change first?" Seto asked him. The mutt hadn't even bothered changing into pajamas and slept in the date clothes. Joey didn't hear him as he was already out the door. "Stupid mutt," Seto muttered as he took the last gulp of coffee.

* * *

><p>Joey had high tailed it straight to Tristan's house, not even bothering to hitch a ride, thinking it was better if he didn't arrive in a limo and raise more questions. He instead used his bike which saved him a chunk of time that he would have lost walking. During his trip he tried to sort in his mind what he was going to say to his friend. He still didn't fully know the situation or what Tristan believed what was going on. Whatever the case, he didn't want to just leave Tristan hanging, or guessing.<p>

Joey finally reached Tristan's house and rang the doorbell. He waited a few minutes and a familiar face opened the door, "Hey Joey, long time no see." Tristan's older sister said as she opened the door. "Tristan is not awake yet from my knowledge, but come on in and I'll get him up."

"Thanks." Joey stepped in the house and took off his shoes before entering the living room. Joey heard the paws of the chocolate lab running down the hall wanting to jump on top of him and lick his face.

"Blankey!" she shouted and the lab dashed past her and knocked Joey down onto the wooden floor.

"It's fine Clair," Joey said and he started to pet the dog's face, and avoided the pink tongue that kept wanted to give him kisses.

"Ok Joey, I'll be back in a min then." She left the living room headed up stairs to Tristan's room

"I don't wanna talk to him right now!" Joey heard Tristan's voice echo through the quiet house. He was hurt that his best friend said that, but didn't blame him. He would feel the same way if Tristan was sneaking behind his back with friends he didn't like or know of.

"Joey came all the way here to see you. If you won't go down to see him, then I'll bring him up to see you." She huffed and slammed the door behind herself. When she came back down she told Joey, "Go ahead and go on up."

Joey nodded in thanks before going up the stairs to Tristan's room. When he tried opening the door, he found it was locked. "Tristan, open the door."

"Go away."

"Come on, Tristan. We need to talk."

"You weren't very inclined to talk last night when you left me hanging to go to the movies with Kaiba, Ryou, and some other guy!"

"Tristan, I'm not having this conversation through a door," Joey said irritated.

"Too bad, cuz I'm not opening it," Tristan said as if he were a pouty five year old.

Joey was considering kicking the door down when Tristan's sister appeared beside him with a key. She unlocked the door and threw it open for him, much to Tristan's annoyance. "There you go. Now please do me a favor and get him out of the house. When he's in a mood like this he starts blasting his stereo."

"Uh, thanks. I'll try," Joey said not making any promises. He went into the room where Tristan was sitting on his bed with his comics. "Tristan, just let me explain."

"You have five minutes," Tristan told him.

Joey sighed. What should he tell him? The truth? Considering how he was acting right now, Joey wasn't sure that was a good idea. "Well, first I wanna know what YOU think is going on," Joey asked, hoping to buy himself some time.

Tristan glared at him before sighing. "I don't know WHAT to think, man. I mean, I thought you HATED Kaiba. So why would you want to go anywhere near him, let alone go someplace WITH him."

_'Crap, I'm no good at this,'_ Joey thought. "It's not that I hate the guy," Joey said slowly, doing his best to choose the right words. "It's just we don't see eye to eye."

"Oh, so what? You guys are best buds now?" Tristan asked skeptically.

"Of course not," Joey answered. Saying that did pain him a bit, but with this tirade Tristan was on, the whole truth didn't look so pleasant at the moment.

"Then why hang out with him?" Tristan demanded.

"Would it really be that bad if I did hang out with him?" Joey asked seriously.

Tristan stared at him as if he was crazy. "I can't believe I'm hearing this from YOU of all people."

"Look, I was there as a favor, alright? That's all it was," Joey said impatiently.

This caused Tristan to look confused, so Joey took the opportunity to go into deeper explanation. "That other guy you saw us with is a friend of Bakura's. I met him a while back and he's a cool guy. He really wanted to go the movies."

Tristan interrupted him. "But that still doesn't explain what Kaiba was doing there."

"Part of the reason I've been busy is because I'm helping Mokuba test out some of the new game systems he gets," Joey said. "And he told me he wants his big brother to get out more so…"

Tristan must've have been irritated to the point of not even caring anymore because finally he just said, "Yeah, fine. Whatever, man."

Joey felt really guilty, and he wanted to make it up to him. Tristan was his buddy, and he didn't want to lose that. "Come on, buddy. What's say we hit a pizza joint and then the arcade, my treat?"

Tristan considered for a few moments. "Alright, I guess I could take you up on that. I was gonna go meet someone there today anyway."

Joey was confused and did a double take in his mind on what Tristan just said, "Wait. Who?"

* * *

><p>Seto was locked up in his office at his house trying to get his work done, but was getting nowhere. His head was still hammering from the other night, making it hard for him to concentrate on his work. Taking his glasses off he began to rub his temples hoping to alleviate some of the pain. "I'm not going to get any work done today." Seto opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol and swallowed two of the pills dry.<p>

_Knock Knock_

"Come in" Seto said hoping that the door really was being knocked on, and it was not his head pounding.

"Sorry to interrupt your work sir…" Roland said stepping through the door, "But the paperwork for the Vegas project just came in so I thought you might want to look over it." Roland was holding a thick manila envelope in his hand. Seto got up and grabbed the envelope from Roland and started to pull out the papers. "It there anything else I can do for you Mr. Kaiba?" he asked knowing his boss was probably not in the best working state this moment. "If you need me to I can finish looking over the plans for theNYCKaibaLand." He offered.

Seto sat back down at his desk and put his glasses back on and began looking over the papers that were in the envelope. "That would fine Roland. I'll upload all my work so far to your computer."

"Will that be all then sir?" Roland asked once more.

_"Well I didn't get much out of Wheeler this morning."_ Seto thought putting down the paperwork. "Roland how did I get home last night?" Seto asked the older employee looking straight past the sunglasses and into his eyes.

"Well sir. Mr. Wheeler called and said that you were not feeling well, so I came to pick you up." Roland said being honest as usual.

"Did I do anything out of the ordinary last night?" Seto asked, _"I know Wheeler was hiding something from me this morning. His body language said all I needed to know. And if Roland was there, he knows what it is."_

"No sir, you didn't do anything out of the ordinary last night." Roland continued, but in the back of his mind, he knew what the young CEO wanted to hear; he just did not want to be the one to have to say it.

"I know I did something last night that while I was intoxicated. It happened two years ago, so I know something happened last night. Just tell me what it was." Seto said to Roland hoping he would finally get an answer.

"Well Sir I did not want to be the one to have to tell you this, but it was not what you did. It was more of what you said." Roland paused for a moment to look at his employer, "Well sir technically it was two things you said. First, you persisted that Mr. Wheeler and I call you by your first name. you were quite adamant about that." Roland left out the age comment; he didn't think it was of that much importance.

"What was the second thing I said?" Seto asked a bit annoyed because he was imagining Roland and Joey calling him Seto, Mokuba was the only person he allowed to use his first name, so it was not a pleasant image.

"Well sir." Roland paused, "I really don't want to have to say this last one." He paused again, "You told Mr. Wheeler something about being top." The room got deathly silent after Roland said the second thing.

"You can go back to work now." Seto said dismissing him, "Everything you need should be on your computer now." Roland left the room without saying another word, but he was thankful that Seto didn't seem that angry over what he told him. _"I wanted him on top." _Seto thought knowing that he would defiantly not get any work done now. _"I really doubt the pup did it though. Even if I did want it, he would be too nervous to. But what if he did? I really doubt it though, it is Wheeler. There is still always a chance though."_

* * *

><p>"Duke Devlin!" Joey exclaimed. He and Tristan had just arrived at the arcade, and who should be waiting for them but the dice man himself.<p>

"Why hello, Joey," Duke said with his usual I'm-all-that-and-everyone-knows-it smile.

"This was the guy you were meetin' with?" Joey asked Tristan, jabbing a thumb at Duke.

"At least he's better than Kaiba," Tristan stated.

_'That's questionable,'_ Joey thought.

"Now, now, ladies, we're here to have fun, right?" Duke spoke up. "How about we start off by shooting some hoops?"

The three teens got themselves each a large pocket full of tokens and began hitting the games. Joey learned that Duke was really skilled at games such as hoops, skiball, football tossing, air hockey, darts… so pretty much anything that required good aim and a steady hand. He sucked at ping pong and foosball, however, which made Joey feel better about himself as he was really good at both of those. Also he wasn't quite as good as Joey and Tristan with the fighter and driving games. The three of them avoided the DDR altogether.

Joey still wasn't sure about Duke, but the guy seemed to be acting pretty normal. As a bonus, Tristan's mood had improved greatly with the passing of time and games.

After hours of playing and competing, Joey arrived at one of his personal favorites. "Ah, pinball. I missed ya buddy. Hey, Tristan, ya think I could beat my high score?"

"Duke already did," Tristan told him with a laugh before taking a sip from his soda.

"What?" Joey asked in disbelief.

"I happen to be a bit of a pinball wizard myself, Joey," Duke told him, twirling a strand of his ebony locks. "But feel free to try to catch up to me."

Joey's competitive mode went to full throttle. "You asked for it. I'll blow your high score out of the water." Joey immediately got to playing, becoming completely absorbed in the game while the other two watched him.

It wasn't long before Tristan hit the bottom of his soda cup. "Hey guys, I'm hitting the little boy's room. Be right back."

Joey barely even heard him. He was too into the game to pay much attention to anything else. He was down to his last ball but he was close to getting the ultimate high score. Just a little further and… He went rigid and suddenly he felt a hand grope his butt and Duke's husky whisper.

"Hmm… no tail."

"What the hell, man?" Joey said losing all focus in the game being short only 350 points to the new high score. "Did you just grab my…my…" Joey couldn't force himself to say it out load. Although the arcade was loud you never know when someone might listen in. _"Kaiba has never even touched me like that before. Why the hell is Duke?" _Joey thought remembering the intense slap he once received from the CEO. However, this gentle grope felt so much more sensual than Seto's.

Duke leaned in even closer to Joey with a smirk on his face, "Well, it was so perfect on you at the party, I thought it might have been permanent."

Joey's face flushed with anger, he forgot about the costume and the party for the most part, it was not the happiest memory.

"What are you guys whispering about over there?" Tristan said seeing how close Duke was with Joey.

"Just enjoying the fact Joey lost to my high score by 350 points." Duke said turning around, his usual lock of hair wrapped around his finger as usual.

"Really man? That sucks only 350 points what happened?" Tristan said consulting his friend with a pat on the shoulder.

"Uh…someone just bumped into me and it made me loose me concentration." Joey said being partially truthful. _"I really need to stop telling partial truths like this to Tristan. He's my best friend, but if I told him about any of this…I don't even want to imagine what he would do or worse…say."_

"Too bad man. Well I'm all outta tokens. What about you guys?" Tristan said pulling out his pockets to show no coins left to play games. Both Joey and Duke nodded in agreement to having no coins left.

"Well I'm starving. Playing videogames works up an appetite. " Joey's stomach grumbled wanting food. He left the mansion so fast he never ate breakfast, so he defiantly needed something to eat soon. "And I promised to treat ya to pizza." Joey said specifically to Tristan. After the incident with Duke moments ago, he felt a bit uneasy around him.

"Ya I could eat. What about you Duke?" Tristan turned to look at his new friend.

"Why not. Joey's treating." Duke said, the twirling of the lock of hair was starting to drive Joey crazy.

_"I don't remember every agreeing to pay for Duke. But if it will make things better between Tristan and I guess I'll pay. "_ Joey thought not wanting to sound like a jerk in front of his best friend. "Ya my treat Duke." Joey said with a fake smile towards Duke.

"Well let's head out then." Duke headed out of the arcade and Tristan followed. Joey sighed and slowly followed behind the two other guys, hoping that Duke would not do anything else the rest of the day while Tristan was out of sight.

* * *

><p>Joey finally got back home from his day with Tristan and Duke, and he was mentally tired. It was fun spending time with Tristan, and Duke was not acting too weird after they left the arcade, so it was overall a good day. However, his good mood was soon spoiled when he saw an annoyed Seto setting in the living room reading the newspaper. "Kaiba, you're home from work early." Joey said sitting on the couch near Seto.<p>

"Didn't I tell you before the movie yesterday we were going to have a long talk?" Seto folded up the paper and placed it on the table next to him

_"Of course Kaiba, remembers that." _Joey thought to himself and was wondering if Seto started to remember anything else from the other night.

"Well, Wheeler, it's time for that talk." Seto continued. "So why didn't you bother tell me we weren't going to be alone on our outing?"

Joey was finally taken away from his thoughts when Seto asked his question, "The reason I didn't tell ya Kaiba is because if I did tell you other people were coming you wouldn't want to go. You would have just suggested we stay at the house as usual."

"Of course I would have Wheeler." Seto replied back icily. "Why did you want to go out with them anyways?" Both Kaiba and Joey were doing their best to avoid using the word date around each other. Neither of them has ever used that word before when talking about their outings, and they were not starting now.

_"I still don't even know why I agreed to the idea. It really just sounded like fun, and normal."_ Joey was thinking and intensely scratching his head while he continued thinking.

"Come on now Wheeler. Don't tell me you don't even know why you wanted to go out with them." Seto scoffed as he got up from his chair while Joey was still lost in thought. He went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee and grabbed a Coke for Joey. He came back in the living room, drinks in tow, and sat on the couch next to the blond. He placed the Coke in front of Joey and leaned back on the couch. "I'm waiting Wheeler."

Joey opened the Coke and took a big gulp, "I just wanted us to go out like…like…a normal couple. Do something different."

"Wheeler." Seto groaned and could see the puppy ears begin to droop. He grabbed Joey by the head and leaned it into his body. "Next time you want to do something stupid like that again, just tell me."

"Really Kaiba? You promise to seriously consider it?" He saw the blond puppy ears once again begin to rise.

"I'll consider it." Seto confirmed. Joey began to snuggle his head in deeper into Seto's body. It was times like these Joey knew that Kaiba didn't have a heart iced over, and really did care. If only Kaiba showed this side of him all the time. "So Wheeler, how was being on the top?" Seto said out of the blue after Joey had finally gotten comfortable into Seto's torso.

Joey's body immediately shot up and his face was bright red, "What are you talking about Kaiba?" Joey had a feeling it was about the drunken ramble, but was praying it wasn't.

"Roland told me what I said while I was not in my right state of mind." Seto said back, his fingers absent mindedly playing with Joey's golden locks. "So how was being on top? Or did you lose heart half way and realize that only your master could ever truly be on top."

Joey quickly shot up from the couch and glared at Kaiba, "I didn't lose heart Kaiba." The brown and blue eyes were now in a deadlock, "I told myself that I would only be on top if you could remember it."

"Really, Wheeler, you actually think you can be on top?" Seto chuckled and he folded his arms across his chest.

"Yah, Kaiba, and you will take it and enjoy it." Joey fought back. This argument was on the ridiculous side; then again, the pair did have more ridiculous arguments than this.

"I'd like to see you try." Seto's ego and cockiness was at an all time high. _"Like the mutt can live up to those words. It would be amusing to see him try though."_ Seto was egging Joey on, there and now. If Joey really wanted to be on top and was so sure that it would be the most amazing experience of Seto's life, then he could do it this very moment. "I'm waiting Wheeler."

Seto's impatient was aggravating Joey. Even though Seto was giving Joey and open invitation to try being on top, he was still controlling the situation. "I'm not going to do it now Kaiba. I'll do it when you least expect it." Joey said smuggle as if he actually did win the spat. Seto stood up from the couch to tower over smirking as if he was the one who won the spat. "What are you acting so smug for?"

"It's nothing Wheeler. It will be interesting to see you try. If you ever do." Seto ruffled Joey's hair like the puppy he always saw his as, and headed out of the room. Joey quickly followed Seto angrily behind spouting how he will, and he's not a mutt, and all bickering soon came to a cease when Roland and Mokuba got back home.

* * *

><p>KD: Duke, you naughty boy! Yes, Trsitan was a bit of a whiner here but, the poor boy is confused so he's got a right to be. Thanks for reading and please review! Seriously, with our lives we NEED the motivation.<p> 


	5. Eightball

KD: Alright, we got something very special for all y'all in this chapter. Hehe. Hope you enjoy and thanks to those of your who reviewed. We greatly appreciate it.

**Chapter Five: Eightball **

_Song for chapter:_

___Smiling Faces Sometimes by The Undisputed Truth___

"So where are we going today?" Joey asked as he turned his head from looking out the limo window, to his boyfriend beside him.

"We need a new pool table, Wheeler." Seto stated blatantly.

"What's wrong with the one we have right now?" Joey questioned curiously. "It's a great pool table."

Seto sighed. "What's wrong with it? You were the one who ruined it. Or did the pup forget what he did already?"

Joey's faced turned red as he finally knew what Seto meant…

* * *

><p>A few days earlier:<p>

Seto, Joey and Mokuba were all in the basement watching The Brothers' Grimm on the younger Kaiba's request. It had been awhile since the three boys had some alone time together, so Mokuba wanted to have some fun. Seto was not very interested in the movie, and wanted to work while the other two sat in interest eyes glued to the screen. However, Seto's ever so caring boyfriend, made him promise to not work if the three ever spent time together and Seto was a man of his word.

The CEO's phone started going off, so he left the couch and headed to the back of the room to answer it. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Joey overheard him say before he hung up. "I have to go to Kaiba Land; there are some problems with the new dueling arena we are installing."

"I'll go, Seto," Mokuba said instantly getting up from the couch. "After all, Kaiba Land is my responsibility when I'm not at school. So I'll have Roland take me there. You just stay and relax." The young teen began to dash up the stairs before his older brother could protest.

Seto grumbled and sat back down on the couch next to Joey. "If you don't want to watch the movie, Kaiba, we can do something else," Joey suggested, knowing that this genre was not his partner's favorite. "I can always beat you at game of pool." Joey pointed over to the covered table with his thumb.

"Please, Wheeler, you can't even beat my Blue Eyes. What makes you think you can beat me in pool?" The fire in Seto's eyes sparked at the challenge of beating Joey in yet another activity.

"Pool and Duel Monsters are nothing alike, Kaiba." Joey got up from the couch and headed over to the table and took the cover off. He was also getting riled up over the new challenge, confident as usual, that this would be the time he would beat Seto. "Nineball or Eightball?"

"Eightball," Seto commented, following the blond to the pool table. He opened the cabinet that had pool sticks, the bridge, chalk, the racks, and all of the balls. Instead of being the usual stripe and solid pool balls, Seto had solid and stripe swirled balls. Joey set up the rack and picked out a stick, "Mutts first," Seto said, allowing the blond to break. Joey broke, and one solid ball went in the left corner pocket.

"I'm solids then," Joey said bending over, to take another shot, but the ball missed going into the pocket by only a few centimeters. Seto leaned over and Joey couldn't help but stare at his partner's ass the entire time. When Joey heard the clunk of a ball landing in a pocket, he started to feel hard. He thought that Seto made some remark about how he would win with only one turn, and he started to aim at another ball. CLUNK. Another ball landed in a pocket, and Joey knew for sure that he was getting aroused by watching the CEO play pool.

_"What's wrong with me? Getting turned on by this?" _Joey thought looking down nonchalantly while Seto stared at the table as if he were doing all the physics equations for the perfect shot in his mind._ "Then again, it has been awhile. Should I go for it?"_ Joey continued pondering as he heard another ball land into a pocket.

Seto was now bent over in front of Joey, and the blond went for it. He wrapped his arms around Seto's body and began to softy lick the outside of his ear. "If this is your idea of a distraction, Wheeler, so I will lose…" Seto started, unaffected by the licking and nibbling of the ear; but was distracted, when he felt Joey hard against his body. "Really, Wheeler, you got set off by watching me play pool?" Seto asked cocking his head to see the brown eyes of his puppy.

Joey didn't care that he was being scolded; it had been awhile since they had some serious intimacy, and Joey's teenage hormones were fully raging now. He just ignored Seto, and began to kiss his neck, trying to find a sweet spot that even the brunette could not resist. Joey thought he heard a held back moan in Seto's throat so he decided to fully focus on the spot, sucking it, and licking it, until he heard any sign of pleasure from the stoic man. Joey got his wish, and heard a low moan escape between Seto's lips followed by a "Bad puppy."

Joey reached down to Seto's spread out legs, and slowly began to stroke Seto's rear with his index finger. He moved up and down over the pants ever so slowly, as a sign of what he wanted to do to the billionaire beneath him. His hand didn't go up again when it reached the bottom, but made a full turn to Seto's front, and Joey felt that he was not the only one with sexual desires right now. Joey towered over the brunette, and began to unbutton his pants and zipped them down a bit of the way. Then he stuck his hand deep within to pull out his warmth. Seto felt the coolness of the room on his lower half, but it began to warm up when Joey's hand started to stroke him, making him harder and longer. Joey went back to kiss and lick the spot he found on Seto earlier while continuing to move his hand a little faster with every other stroke.

As much as Seto tried, he could no longer stand taking the pleasure anymore; he wanted to get control over his disobedient puppy. He soon moved, trying to turn around to face the blond, but Joey wouldn't let him move without a fight. "How badly do you want it Wheeler?" Seto asked, gaining control and soon faced him. The brunette sat on the edge of pool table and looked up at his now annoyed boyfriend. Joey pushed Seto down fully on the table, and fully took off the brunette's pants and boxers. Seto tried sitting up, but Joey pushed him back down, for once he wanted to be on top and he would do anything to make sure that happened. Joey took off his own pants and boxers while sucking his boyfriend who got a little soft in the few minutes he was left without attention. He was careful to make sure his teeth didn't injure the long organ in his mouth while he tried multitasking.

Joey quickly got on the pool table, to join his lover whose body was sprawl out across the table. He placed his body carefully over Seto's, while he squatted over the long erection, and quickly placed Seto's warmth inside of him. Joey's legs had Seto trapped beneath him, that way the usually dominate male couldn't over power him. Joey was surprised how Seto did not put up too much of a fight to the let the less experienced one to have his moment on top, but Joey was not going to let it ruin his mood.

He began to move up and down on Seto faster, hoping to get some signal of sexual pleasure from the man, but as usual, he was as stoic as ever during sex when he was not the one in control. Joey stopped moving and leaned forward to his lover's face. "Why can't you at least act like you're enjoying it?" Joey asked, and he let himself be free of Seto.

Seto sighed. "It's not a good position." He leaned forward as Joey moved off of the man's slender body. He started to feel all the euphoria drain from his body when Seto said that it was not a good position. Joey got off the pool table and Seto followed. Before Joey could do anything, Seto pushed the blonds top half right on the table and quickly penetrated his mutt. "The position you had me in early is much better. You're a bit tighter this way, so the pressure you're emitting feels so much better to me." Joey tried to moan but couldn't breathe with his face smashed against the table and stomach digging into the wood of the table.

"Seto," he moaned without realizing his actually used his lovers' name. "This isn't a good position for me. I can't breathe being smashed against the table." Joey knew it was cruel of him to do this; they were switching positions left and right. "Let's get back on top the table." Seto pulled out, and was annoyed that he was made to stop when he was getting so close. The tension inside of him was getting unbearable for him to keep composure.

Joey got on top of the billiards table again, and Seto was soon to join. The blond was in front of his lover on hands and knees, "Like a mutt," Seto noted softly. He hovered over the top of his mutt, their bodies just inches away from one another and soon continued what he was unable to complete moments ago. Joey moaned loudly as Seto began to push inside deeper and harder, all of his sexual annoyances were being let out inside Joey. Seto used one of his hands to stroke Joey, once again having absolute dominance.

"Tell me when you're ready. I don't want anything on the pool table," Seto said in his ear as he softly nibbled it.

Joey however was not paying attention to his boyfriend's request for he was in a world of sexual desires that the cold voice couldn't break. After a few more thrusts Seto pulled out of his lover to make sure nothing got on the table, but when he looked down he saw all the blond's stickiness was on the table and more was still coming out. Seto was able to control himself in that way, but it was obvious that Joey still couldn't control his bodies urges so easily.

* * *

><p>"Oh ya, the stains didn't come out of the table I'm guessing." Joey laughed innocently, remembering how mad Seto was and he thought it was foolish of him to even do it on the pool table to begin with when the couch was right there.<p>

"No, they came out, for the most part, but with a black light the stain could still be seen. It was not cleaned off well enough," Seto said still annoyed that the pool table was sullied in that way.

"I said I was sorry," Joey sighed. "I just can't control myself like you can." Seto never agreed to Joey's statement, but he didn't disagree either.

They finally reached the Billiards Store and all the tension between the two was gone as soon as they entered. "Hello, gentlemen. What can I help you with today?" a salesman asked the moment they stepped through the door.

"I'm looking to replace an old billiards table," Seto said to the sales man.

"What kind did you have? Did you want one similar to it? Or a brand new model?" The salesman asked pulling Seto and Joey further into the store.

"It was an Americana Olhausen Pool Table made from cherry. The baize was a light blue instead of the traditional green," Seto said pausing for a moment to remember the table. "I'm interested to see what kinds of tables you have to offer. However I would prefer to customize one if possible."

"Of course, sir, all our tables have the ability to be customized. We have Legacy tables, Olhausen tables, and of course all our customized ones." The man pulled out a book with all the different designs for the customizable options. "Any strike your fancy?"

Seto looked at the book and flipped through the pages. Joey looked over his shoulder. "I like the arch and the pyramid."

Seto eyes looked at Joey with admonishment. "Personally I'm fond of the Jackson. The more classical looking ones are of interest to me over these modernized ones. Do you have one I can play on to test it out?" Seto asked the man closing the book.

"I'm sorry, sir, we don't let customers play on the tables in the store, only employees," The man said grabbing the book.

Seto stood and began to leave the store. "I'll take my services elsewhere then."

"Wait, sir," The salesman amended. "Normally we wouldn't, but since today is such a slow day you can test out any table you want."

Seto turned around and walked over to one of the shelves with the pool sticks and grabbed one. "Rack the balls for me, Joseph," Seto ordered while chalking off the tip.

Joey was still getting used to the fact of Seto calling him by his whole first name when they were out in public. They rarely ever went out together as is, so it never really gave him a chance to adjust. Joey grabbed a rack and set up the balls for Seto.

The salesman soon disappeared as another person entered in the store. "Good day, sir. How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a pool table," The familiar voice to Joey said.

_"Please don't let it be him," _Joey thought not wanting to turn around to see who it was. He did anyways, only to see the piercing green eyes, and a single finger twirling a lock of silky black hair.

"I was wondering if I could test a few out as well," Duke added to the salesman since he saw Seto was playing on one. Duke walked past the salesman and headed straight over to Seto and Joey. "Hello, Joey," Duke said, slyly brushing against Joey's rear as he walked by. Then he continued to Kaiba. "Do you mind if I test this table out as well? We can make a match out of it," Duke suggested.

"I don't have time to waste on such pointless frivolity," Seto stated, his cold demeanor on at full force.

"That's truly a shame," Duke said sounding disappointed. "I would have thought the king of games wouldn't back down from any sort of challenge. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot," he gave a soft laugh as if remembering something funny. "You're not the king of games anymore, so I suppose you have the luxury of declining."

Joey's temper was already close to peaking. He could handle Duke acting like a jerk to him, but saying things like that to Seto was unacceptable. …Even though back then there was a time where Joey would have said the exact same thing. "Knock it off, Duke. Why don't ya make like a potato and hop?"

The amused smirk on Duke's face couldn't be concealed even if he tried. "Touching, what great friends you two seem to be. I guess bygones can be bygones."

"You three, don't start a fight in my shop, take it outside," the store owner said.

"Sir, don't you think that if people came in here, and actually saw customers playing pool on your tables, they would feel more inclined to buy one?" Duke asked the salesman smoothly. "It would be like advertising your reliable wares."

The salesman rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm… well I suppose as long as nothing is damaged…."

"Here's my proposal," stated Duke, holding up three long thin fingers. "Three matches, any billiards game at all. Best two out of three. Loser has to buy the winner's pool table. That sounds reasonable, right?"

"Fine, I accept," said Joey without thinking, stepping forward ready to take Duke head on.

"No, Wheeler," Seto interjected coldly, glaring at the Devlin boy. "He's mine." _'By the time I'm done with him, he'll wish he had never picked up a pool stick.'_

Duke looked very pleased by the arrangement. "Alright then, let's begin. I call first game, eight ball."

* * *

><p>KD: Yeah Duke, can be a bit of an ass, but you gotta admit, that was a pretty good burn to Seto on his part. So a pool match between Duke and Seto, who shall reign victorious? Wait for the next chapter to find out, and don't forget to review in the meantime. :P<p> 


	6. Double Edged Sword

KD: Not much to say here except still so few reviews. Pout. Oh well, let the games begin!

**Chapter Six: Double-Edged Sword **

_Songs for chapter:_

_Don't mess with my love by M2M_

_and still  
><em>

_Smiling Faces Sometimes by The Undisputed Truth_

* * *

><p>The balls were racked and since Duke instigated the challenge, he of course took the initiative to break first. He first chalked the stick, examining it carefully until he found it satisfactory. Joey was confused by this. Whenever he chalked his stick he did it quick and without much thought. The way Duke took care; it was almost as if one speck of chalk could throw everything off. Duke saw the cylindrical white hand chalk sitting on the pool stick holder. With his left hand he gently rubbed the chalk up and down getting the white powder and his hands and between his fingers. He took his pool stick and began to move this stick back and forth between his index and pointer finger ever so slowly. He did this make sure his fingers were smoother than they already were so there would be no friction with him and the stick.<p>

Joey was watching intently. It seemed like Duke really knew what he was doing. He glanced over at Seto who wasn't that impressed, no surprises there. Joey admitted though, he was starting to wonder if it was possible that Seto may have met his match.

Duke positioned himself and took steady aim, lining the stick up perfectly with the white ball. He readied, pulled back the stick and fired. The ball did not hit the others as Joey had more than expected it to, but instead shot right over them straight towards Joey's face. It happened so quickly that Joey only had time to close his eyes as a reaction. The nose breaking impact he anticipated never came and he opened his eyes to see that Seto had caught the white ball in his right hand.

"My turn, Devlin," he said icily. Seto's eyes were narrowed, staring intently at Duke. He didn't know what the black haired teen had in mind while doing that, but something was defiantly up.

"I guess so," Duke said looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry about that, Joey. I guess it's been a while."

"Uh, yeah, no problem," Joey said still a little shaken. Joey didn't dislike Duke, but for some reason he just didn't feel comfortable around the guy. He felt edgy, probably because he really didn't know what to expect from Duke. At least Seto was consistent in his arrogance.

Seto chalked his stick but didn't bother with his hands and set the white ball back into place. He then took aim and broke sending the number three solid colored ball into a pocket right off the bat. He followed up with shooting three more solids into the pockets before it was Duke's turn again.

Duke managed to knock a striped one in, but Joey surmised it was an easy shot since it had been right in front of the pocket it was knocked into. On his next shot he tried knocking in another but the ball missed the pocket by a couple inches. At this point Joey felt he had severely overestimated Duke's talent and that he was gonna be out of pocket money for a while, and a good chunk of his ego.

Seto only had three balls left and the eight ball. He easily shot in the one ball and the four ball, leaving only two more balls on the table. As he aimed at his last solid ball, Duke began to casually stroke his stick in Joey's direction, causing Seto to over hit the ball and miss the pocket. Joey noticed Seto missed, but didn't know the cause of the distraction for Seto came from Duke. He saw Duke stroking the pool stick, but didn't think anything of it, Seto on the other hand knew what was on the dice master's mind.

Duke completely missed on his turn, causing Seto to be the winner after hitting in his last ball, calling the eight ball and making the shot."First win goes to you Kaiba." Duke said innocently, "Since you won you can pick then next game."

"Nine ball," Seto said without hesitation. _"If he can barely manage at eight ball, he will have no luck with nine ball."_ Seto thought grabbing the diamond shape rack and set up the balls.

A smirk danced upon Duke's face when Seto was not paying attention, _"Kaiba is falling right into my trap."_ Duke chalked off his stick. "You can break first then, since I didn't do so hot on the last game."

Before Duke could finish his sentence, Seto already broke, hitting the one ball first and knocking the three ball into the pocket. Seto had to jump the cue ball over the eight ball in order to hit the one ball, it worked, but no balls went into the pocket, causing it to be Duke's turn.

Duke easily hit the one ball, making the seven ball land in a pocket. However, the one ball was once again blocked by another. Seto smirked,_ "There is no way he will be able to make the ball bounce."_ Seto thought as Duke stared at the table, debating how to hit the ball. Duke set himself to aim, and Seto was amazed, _"The idiot was playing me."_ Seto thought knowing that Duke had the stick set up in the proper position to bounce the ball. It worked, and Duke was able to hit the five ball in after hitting the one ball.

Joey was amazed at the precision Duke had just shown on the table. _"Maybe it was just dumb luck?"_ He thought.

"Hey Joey what are you doing in here?" another familiar voice came from behind him. Joey turned around, and noticed that there was a small gathering of people watching the intense pool match between the two teens. Three of those spectators happened to be Tristan, Yugi and Tea.

"Oh hey Yug." Joey said looking down at his petite friend, "Tristan, Tea." Joey said nodding at them. "I just happened to be walking by…and saw the match…so I decided to come in and watch it." Joey lied ever so slowly. _"I really need to stop lying to my friends, but I can't tell them the truth. Not yet anyways."_

"I wonder how the match started." Tristan started, seeing that Duke was winning against Seto with ease. "Seems kinda random doesn't it?"

"Who knows?" Joey said with a sigh, _"at least I can be honest to them about that."_

"Well we were on our way to the arcade." Yugi started since he could not see the match over the crowd of people, "Wanna come with us?"

Joey paused for a moment, _"I can't just leave Kaiba without a word, but I don't have a good enough excuse to stay here either."_Joey looked down at his friend, "Sorry Yug, don't have any money to spend on the arcade today. Besides I probably should be heading home soon anyways."

"Are you sure man?" Tristan started, "I can give ya some money to play at the arcade if ya want."

The crowd began to clap, causing Joey to turn around only to see a cocky looking Duke and an aggravated Seto. It was pretty obvious who won, Duke. "One more match left Kaiba, and since I won I'll choose the game."

"Fine, Devlin, what is it" Seto said icily.

"We'll each shoot as many balls in as we can without missing or scratching," Duke explained. "Granted, this means that if you don't get a ball in on breaking, you automatically lose." Seto accepted these terms, and since Duke won the last match, he got to go first.

"I wonder who'll win," Yugi wondered aloud.

"It's gotta be Kaiba," Tea said.

"You've never seen Duke play a game of pool," Tristan said. "The guy could enter the pros if he wanted to." Since Tristan had become close friends with Duke, the two spent a lot of time together playing games; pool being one of them. So he knew Duke's true skill level over anyone else in the room. "I played against him a few times and once he beat me in one turn. I doubt even Kaiba is that good at pool."

"You never know Tristan." Yugi started. "Kaiba's strong will to win has always pushed him through in the past. So I don't see today as being any different. As long as he believes in himself, I'm sure Kaiba can pull through in win."

Joey looked down at his smaller friend, and a gentle smile made way across his face. No matter how much of a jerk Kaiba was to his friends in the past and present. Yugi always did have a respect for Kaiba, and vice versa. So, hearing his friend say kind words about his clandestine boyfriend did give him some hope, that he could tell them the truth someday.

The crowd watched in anticipation, clearly interested in who was going to come out triumphant. Duke Devlin, the dungeon dice master, or Seto Kaiba, the president of Kaiba Corporations. People all around were quietly arguing about who was going to win, and some were even taking bets.

Duke broke and got a ball into the pocket. With a confidence to rival Seto's, he began his shots, sinking one ball after another, until there were three left. He was receiving cheers, most coming from the girls. This caused him to become just a little too confident. He tried to do a flashy move, with the stick behind his back, but ended up missing.

Now it was Seto's turn. He had no thought of pleasing anyone. He just wanted to put this punk in his place and go home. He racked the balls, took aim, and broke. As luck would have it, he sank two just from breaking. He blocked out the irritating buzzing going on around him focusing on getting the balls in the pockets.

Duke realized this was going to be a close call. Seto was already two balls short of beating him. He was mildly surprised when he felt a pat on his back. "Hey, looks like a close game huh?" Tristan asked him. Apparently he and the rest of the group, Joey included, decided to join him, he being their 'pal' and all.

"Yes, I suppose it will be close," Duke said watching another ball go in. Then he got an idea. "Joey, do you play by any chance?"

"Well, yeah, I consider myself decent," Joey said modestly. "Though I can't do nothing fancy."

"You don't say. Well then…" Duke very casually slid his arm around Joey's shoulder. "I think I would enjoy playing with you. I could teach you several new tricks."

Joey tensed, which was understandable. Even though Duke was just acting in a way Tristan usually did when he was feeling buddy-buddy, to Joey, the feel was entirely different coming from Duke.

"So, whaddya say," asked Duke, "wanna make it a date?"

"Uh…it's ok Duke. I'm usually pretty busy with work." Joey started not sure how to react to him. It seemed innocent enough, but he still got an unsettling vibe around Duke.

"Awww" the crowd went, and Joey looked up to see a very annoyed Seto, who just missed the ball going into the pocket by mere centimeters.

"I'm surprised Kaiba missed that." Tristan started, "It was a dead on shot."

Duke looked over at Kaiba and playfully winked at him, his arm still around the blond's shoulders. "Well Kaiba. Looks like it's a tie game." Duke said after seeing that the pool table had the same amount of balls on it that he did. "Guess you can't buy me that new pool table now."

Seto glared even harder at the dark hair teen as he walked past him to leave the billiard store, "If I didn't have somewhere to go Devlin, you would be regretting that." He whispered lowly so only the two could hear. Seto left without saying a word to Joey, which he was a relief to him.

"Well now that all the excitement is over, let's go to the arcade." Tristan said ready to leave the store with the other spectators. "You coming Joey? You too Duke."

"Sure, I have nothing else to do today." Duke shrugged.

"I guess I could hang for a bit." Joey's voice drifted off as he saw Seto step into the limo out of the corner of his eye.

"Great let's go" Yugi said with his usual zealous. The group of five teenagers headed to the arcade that was only a few blocks away from the pool store they were just at.

* * *

><p>"Mr. Kaiba. Where is Mr. Wheeler?" Roland asked as his employer stepped into the car, slamming the door hard behind him.<p>

"He's going out with his...friends." Seto said with a pause before the word friends.

"That's good then sir?" Roland said almost in a question. Seto didn't answer that question, because all that popped up in his head was that dice freak touching his puppy while he was out. "Did you get a new billiard's table sir? You were in the store for quite some time."

"No, I didn't. I'll just order one online later." Seto commented back, "Let's go to Kaiba Corp Roland. I have some work to do before we head home." Seto figured work was one of the only things that would calm him down right now, or he would follow Joey to the arcade and beat the crap out of Duke if he did anything to the ignorant blond. _"I trust Wheeler, but I don't trust Devlin. Devlin was all over him, but Wheeler was too oblivious to notice."_

"Of course Sir." Roland said switching lanes and began heading towards the office, but Seto was too lost in his own thoughts to hear the response.

* * *

><p>"That was lots of fun," Yugi stated happily when the lot of them left the arcade.<p>

They all had spent three hours straight just playing video games and hanging out, just like always. Just like nothing had ever changed. For that much, Joey was grateful. Since the summer break, he'd applied for more work hours in order to increase his paycheck, so without school, he was pressed for seeing his pals. He admitted, he'd been so preoccupied with all these other things he almost didn't realize how much he missed it. So much had changed with him, but he was glad he still had his friends with him. He didn't ever want to lose that; all the same…. He didn't want to lose what he had with Seto either. Would it be possible for him to merge the two together? Would his friends still accept him? Would Tristan understand?

"Joey? Joey, you still in there?" Yugi asked.

Joey shook himself out of his thought to focus on his miniature friend. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Well, we were thinking of going to the movies next," Yugi told him. "What do you think we should go see?"

Joey thought for a few moments before saying, "Actually, I think I'm gonna head home for the day. I probably have a lot of cleaning up to do."

Tristan for once looked understanding. Joey felt bad because he knew Tristan believes he still lives with his messy, drunkard of a father.

"Let me give you a ride," Duke offered. "I need to head back to my shop anyway."

Joey shook his head. "Thanks, but I'll just walk."

"Let's meet up again soon, okay?" Tea told him. "It's summer vacation after all. So don't work yourself too hard."

"Thanks, Tea," Joey replied with a smile. He waved goodbye to his friends and headed off.

Yugi stared after him and sighed. _"Joey really seems to be busy these days," _he thought in his head. _"And he's always zoning out, like his mind is on other things. I really hope he's okay."_

"Well then, if you'll all excuse me," said Duke. He got into his snazzy car and drove off. He had no intentions of returning to his game shop quite yet though.

Duke followed Joey at a slow pace, he didn't want to be seen following him, especially when he had such an ostentatious car. He noticed that Joey was on the phone with someone, but was too far away to hear what was going on. A few moments later he saw a car that looked like one of Seto's and Joey getting into it. _"Well at least he will be easier to follow now." _Duke thought trying to stay one car behind the black limo. Duke pulled his car off to the side when he finally noticed what house the car was pulling up to. _"So he is going to Kaiba's house. Now the only question is are they living together or not?" _Duke saw Joey walk up to the front door with an older man, that looked like one of Seto's worker's, the door was already unlocked, so there was no proof in the form of a key that he was living there. _"Guess I'll have to come back later then."_ Duke thought turning around and heading back to his game shop.

* * *

><p>Joey sighed as he walked into the house, he looked into the living room and noticed that Seto was not in there. He headed upstairs and saw that the light was on in Seto's office. <em>"Should I talk to him about what happened at the store?"<em> Joey thought standing in front of the office door._ "Maybe later, I bet he is working."_ Joey sighed and headed to his own room. He laid on his bed and pulled out his phone, noticing that he had several missed texts. Most of them were chain texts from Malik, so he just deleted them. One was from Kit saying she was sick, so Joey would be working with a different person this week. Joey sent a get well soon text back to her and was back to doing nothing.

Joey headed back down stairs and decided to watch tv in the living room. He was channel surfing, but nothing was on; day time talk shows; games shows; children's cartoons; the history of sex. _"The history of sex?"_ Joey thought stopping on the history channel for a moment confused to what the show could possibly be about, but when he heard footsteps going down the stairs, he quickly changed the channel to some game show with people dressed in crazy costumes. Joey watched as Seto entered the kitchen without saying a word, and had a bag of coffee in hand and began heading up stairs. After a few more minutes, he came back down again, and looked at Joey, but didn't say a word to him. _"He looks just as annoyed as earlier."_ Joey thought, as Seto joined him in the living room with a book in hand and began to read in silence.

"Hey Kaiba." Joey said after ten minutes of silent tension. "Is your book good?"

"Yes." Seto said as he turned the page, then shut the book closed. "How was going out with the cheerleaders?"

Joey was taken aback that Seto actually asked how his day was, they usually didn't have small talk like this, "It was fun. We went to the arcade."

"Did Devlin go too?" Seto asked, and Joey could hear the spite in his voice when he said Duke's name.

"Ya, he was there too." Joey was confused by that question. "Does it matter that he was there?" Joey asked still oblivious to Dukes actions at the store.

"I suppose not." Seto said with a sigh, _"Your obliviousness is a double edge sword." _Seto thought seeing the pure virtuousness in Joey's confusion.

"How was your day then?" Joey asked, "Did you work all day?"

"Yes, I'm working on several new projects to be built in America." Seto said keeping it simple; knowing that if he went in depth about what he was doing it would just confuse the blond. "I also received a call from your mother earlier today." Seto started, "Apparently Serenity was looking for you at your old apartment a few days ago."

"She was looking for me? Why didn't she call?" Joey said worried about his little sister, "I have not seen her in awhile is she ok?" Joey's protective older brother mode was in full force.

"Yes, she's fine." Seto sighed, "I told your mother that you moved in with me, and if she would like, her and Serenity could come over for dinner to see your new home. They are coming over on Wednesday."

Joey got wide eyed, "And why didn't you ask me about this before just inviting them over? They are my family!"

"I thought you would be pleased to have your sister coming over." Seto said baffled by Joey's reaction.

"It's not that Kaiba." Joey leaned back on the couch, "It's just why couldn't ya consult me before just inviting them over?"

"Old habits die hard," Seto said honestly.

_"I wish they would die faster,"_ Joey thought.

"Would you rather be back living with your father?" Seto asked him.

Joey was startled, not by the question itself, but by the way it was said. Not condescending like he normally would have expected. "Where'd that come from all of the sudden?" Joey asked.

Seto opened his book intending to pick up where he left up. "Nothing. Forget I asked."

"No, I'm not gonna forget it," Joey said, as he stood up from the couch in frustration "What are you getting at?"

"You just don't seem your usual energetic self lately," Seto commented. The steel orbs were still focused on the book, but they did slightly move up to match the blonds' eyes.

"Yeah, well, I've been kinda preoccupied lately," Joey said.

"With what?"

Joey was reluctant to tell Seto what was wrong. Even though he remembered Malik telling him that one of the important steps to a good relationship was communication. Joey didn't want Seto to think he was unhappy living here, but things just felt more constraining, more complicated. He felt torn between life with his friends and life with the Kaiba brothers. "I guess, I just feel like there's too much going on, and I can't handle it."

"If it's time off of work you need, all you have to do is ask," Seto told him, this being the first thing that popped in his mind.

"Th-that's not it," Joey said putting a hand to his forehead. "I'm just sick of hiding."

Seto lowered his book. "That's what's been bothering you?" He removed his glasses with an agitated sigh. "If you trust your friends enough, Wheeler, then just tell them already. I don't mind. While I don't understand your friendship with them, I realize they're important to you."

Joey stared opened mouthed at the brunette. "Who are you and what did you do with Seto Kaiba?" It was rare to see the CEO this understanding about something, but when he was it acted almost as a small reminder to Joey, that deep down Seto really does care about him.

Seto chuckled at this. "I just want my pup to be happy. It's bothersome otherwise."

"Ya sure about that?" Joey asked. "No take backs?"

"Yes, Wheeler, I'm sure," Seto said kissing Joey on the forehead reassuringly. "But only if you trust them. Not everyone is open and understanding like Yugi."

"Yeah, I know that," Joey said leaning against Seto, sliding down so that his head was placed against the other's abdomen. Joey closed his eyes and soon felt Seto's finger's running through his hair, raking lightly over his scalp. "Ya never did answer my question," Joey mumbled before dozing off.

"And I probably never will, pup," Seto said softly.

* * *

><p>KD: Aww Seto doesn't know what happened to himself either. Or if he does know, he's just not gonna tell any of us. Let's not forget reviews are just one of the many inspirations for writers.<p> 


	7. Seto's Plan

**Chapter Seven: Seto's Plan **

_Songs for chapter:_

_Mother and Child Reunion by Paul Simon_

The next morning Joey was just waking up as Seto was getting ready for work. Joey sat up in bed and contently watched as Seto put on his dress shirt, then began working with his tie. Seto gave no acknowledgment that he noticed Joey was awake until the cloth was tied perfectly around his neck.

"What were you planning to do today?" He asked Joey.

Joey took a moment before answering. "I was thinking of hanging out with Yugi a little while before work."

Seto glanced at him, his expression not as harsh as it normally was. "Did you want me to cancel the dinner arrangements with your family?" he asked as he was putting on his jacket.

Joey shook his head. "Nah, what's done is done. Might as well just follow through with it." He got off the bed and walked over to Seto, placing a kiss on his neck before walking passed him towards the bathroom. "Have a nice day at work."

Seto straightened his jacket and without missing a beat said, "Don't be late for work." Then he left.

Joey completed his morning bathroom ritual and got dressed before heading over to Yugi's house. He decided it would be best if the two of them just hung out there, simply because he didn't want to have this sort of conversation in public. The two of them decided to play a friendly game of duel monsters, since it had been a while and Joey didn't want to get rusty. The conversation started out idly with Yugi asking Joey how he was enjoying work. Then the conversation drifted to possible plans for a summer trip to the beach. Joey was half paying attention, half trying to decide how to approach the subject he really wanted to speak with Yugi about.

"Joey, what about you? Wanna come?" Yugi said, the only thing Joey heard after snapping out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Joey said truthfully. "Sorry Yug, didn't catch all of that." Joey's face turned red with embarrassment while nervously scratching the back of his head.

"I asked if you want to come to the beach with me, Tea, Tristan, and I think Duke is coming too." Yugi said looking at his friend confused. "You know, Tristan thinks you have been a little spacey lately." Yugi started, "So if there is something you want to talk about I'm all ears." Yugi smiled innocently, not knowing what to expect from his friend.

Joey swallowed, _"It's now or never."_ Joey thought and let out the air he just swallowed. "Well Yug, there is something I wanna tell you." Joey paused, he was nervous about telling his closest bud this. It would be easier than telling Tristan, but not easy enough.

"What is it Joey?" Yugi asked looking concerned. He saw the nervousness in his friend's eyes; it was very rare to see the overconfident duelist look this lost.

"Well, Yug, I don't know how to say this, but Kaiba and I have started to become really close." Joey said hoping that his innocent friend would understand.

"You and Kaiba have become friends. That's great." Yugi said clapping his hands excitedly, "Maybe we should invite him to the beach too…" Yugi's thoughts started to drift off. "I don't know why you think that's such a bad thing…being friends with Kaiba…"

"Umm…Yug, I don't think you're on the right page…" Joey said interrupting his friend. "Kaiba and I are…are…more than just friends." Joey said stuttering that entire time.

"What do you mean, Joey? More than just friends?" Yugi was obviously oblivious to the idea of two guys dating, that the thought never even crossed his mind.

"Um…Kaiba and I are…well we are…." Joey didn't know what the right word to use in this conversation was, it was Yugi after all. "Yug, have you ever loved someone?" Joey finally asked him, not sure how else to explain it to him. _"It's not like Kaiba and I ever use that word towards each other. But I don't know any other word to describe it."_

"Well I do like, Tea…" Yugi started. "But love? Why do you ask? What does this have to do with you and Kaiba?" Yugi questioned still not understanding what was being asked of him.

"Yugi…I'm not living at home anymore." Joey said trying to be direct and truthful figuring that the love angle wouldn't work with him. Yugi still had a child like mentality when it came to certain things, and the idea of love was one of them. "I'm living with Kaiba now. And we are well, we are kinda seeing each other?" Joey questioned himself in the end, unsure of how to truly define his and Seto's relationship.

"Seeing each other as in dating?" he asked Joey finally starting to connect the dots in his head. "You and Kaiba? And when did you start living with him?"

"It was a little while after spring break, I think," Joey admitted. "And trust me, I never planned it. It just sort of happened. But yeah, I guess you could say we're…dating."

"Wait, how have you been able to keep it a secret from us that you were living with him?" Yugi finally asked, confused how no one figured that out. It's not like the elusive CEO and his friend live in the same neighborhood, they practically lived on the opposite sides of Domino City, their school almost being a midpoint between the two homes.

"Come on Yug, remember that one time, you all tried coming over ta my house. You guys couldn't even get in the door because of my dad. Besides I work after school almost every day, so you guys see me head to work, not my old home or Kaiba's place. The only person who ever did come over ta my apartment a few times was Tristan, but he knows how my old man is, so he usually tried to stay clear. So I guess it wasn't that hard to really hide it, since you never came over to begin with." Joey laughed nervously placing his hand behind his head.

"Wow… I… don't know what to say except… congratulations, I guess?" Yugi said utterly confused.

"I can't blame ya. Ta be honest I was surprised myself when all this started happening," confided Joey.

Yugi began asking more in depth questions, like when DID it all start happening? Joey answered his questions truthfully, albeit awkwardly. Yugi patiently listened and was very non-judgmental all the way through. When Joey was finished, Yugi was almost in awe.

"Wow, to be honest, even after hearing all that, it's really hard to believe," he said before grinning. "But I'm really happy for you Joey. You and Kaiba both. Even though I don't quite understand any of it, it's good to know you two are finally getting along, and that Kaiba is opening his heart to someone." His expression dimmed a little. "Do the others know? Tristan, Tea, and Ryou?"

"No," Joey admitted guiltily. "I wasn't sure how to tell them. I still haven't got a clue. But I wanted to tell someone. I figured out of everyone, you'd be the one who'd be the most understanding about it."

"Well, I won't tell them if you don't want me to," said Yugi. "But I think you should tell them eventually. They've been worried about you, and I don't think this is something you should hide from them. They're your friends too, Joey. And friends support each other, no matter what."

"Ya, I know, but I just don't think it's the right time yet." Joey sighed and looked down at his watch, "Aw man gotta go to work now." He got up and put his jacket back on, "Thanks' for listenin' I'll see you later then."

Yugi waved bye and promised to keep his secret, but really thought Joey should tell everyone else soon before it's too late.

* * *

><p>Work went by faster than Joey expected it to go, especially with the family dinner that was going to happen. Joey really didn't know what to expect, which made him even more nervous.<p>

As soon as Joey got home, Seto was there waiting for him, ordering him to clean up, while he picked a suitable outfit for the occasion. Joey began drying his hair off as he stepped out of the shower, "How are Serenity and my mom getting here anyways?"

Seto stepped into the bathroom and handed Joey a crimson red button up shirt with black slacks, "I sent Roland to pick them up, they should be here in ten to fifteen minutes."

_"Figures, should have known Kaiba would do anything to impress my mom to show her that there is nothing ta worry about."_ Joey put the clothing on and looked at himself in the mirror for a few moments, to make sure that he looked decent enough, because if he didn't, then he knew Kaiba would. As he stepped out of the bathroom he saw Seto was dressed in similar attire, but instead wore a white shirt with a blue tie.

"You actually look decent enough for once." Seto said giving him a once over.

"You actually don't look like a jerk for once," Joey said imitating Seto. The two boys, heard the front door open and close and knew that their guests had arrived.

"Let's go, Wheeler, hosts should not keep their guests waiting." Seto walked down the stairs and Joey slowly followed, but as soon as he saw his baby sister, he got his usual goofy grin and dashed down the stairs to give her a hug.

"Serenity!" he said not wanting to let the girl go, "I missed you. Have you been alright?"

"Joey." She said also with a big smile, "I'm fine. And it's so good to see you. I missed you so much." The two finally let go of their embrace.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell ya sooner that I'm living with Kaiba…" Joey started, but was soon interrupted by his sister.

"It's fine, Joey. I understand. You're busy after all."

As the two reunited sibling bonded, Seto greeted Joey's mother with his upmost politeness. "I'm so glad that you and Serenity were able to make it, Ms. Wheeler. I'm sorry you were not informed sooner, certain circumstances caused a delay."

"Oh it's no problem at all, Seto. Thank you for bringing us over." She said trying to hold back a smile from Seto's charm. Then she got a good look at her son. "Why Joseph I never noticed how handsome you look tonight. How did you get him to wear something like that?" She asked Seto admiring how well dressed her son looked, obviously proud of the man he was becoming.

"Yes Joey, you do look really good in that." Serenity added, and Joey couldn't help but smile, knowing that his sister thought so much of him.

"Shall we all head to the dining room then?" Seto suggested, "Dinner should be served soon."

All four of them headed to Seto's dining room, where Mokuba was already waiting for them, "Serenity, it's good to see you again." Mokuba said with a big smile.

"Hello, Mokuba." Serenity politely smiled back, "It's so good to see you again."

"Ms. Wheeler, this is my younger brother, Mokuba." Seto said introducing her properly to his younger brother.

"Hello, Ms. Wheeler," Mokuba said averting his attention to the older women, "It's nice to finally meet you." Ms. Wheeler greeted Mokuba back, and they all sat down at the long table as appetizers were served for them by Seto's staff.

"This is such a lovely house." Ms. Wheeler commented in awe as she looked around the room, "Do just you three live here?"

"No, Roland, my assistant lives here as well. The staff lives in their own houses." Seto commented back, figuring that he would be getting a plethora of questions from the older woman.

While Joey's mom monopolized Seto for a while, Joey, Mokuba and Serenity had their own conversation. Serenity asked how the both of them were doing and what they had been up to since she last saw them. She also told them about how she was doing at her school and some of the friends she had made. Then of course Serenity made little innocent queries about how Joey was enjoying living with Seto and Mokuba in such a big house and how the relationship was going.

Joey would occasionally tune in and out of the conversation between Seto and his mother, especially if he heard his name mentioned. One of these times was when Joey's mom was talking about school.

"I can't thank you enough for helping Joey with his schooling," she told Seto. "That was one thing I'd always been concerned with when I left him with his father. But at least now I know he's building up towards a promising future."

"Yes," Seto agreed. "In fact, I plan on taking him to America in a couple of week to look at colleges for when he's graduated."

"Nyeh!" Joey exclaimed in confusion. When was this decided? He never remembered Seto mentioning it even once.

"Oh my, how marvelous!" His mother exclaimed. "I can see I have very little to worry about then."

_"You might not have anything to worry about, but someone else does," _Joey thought glaring at Seto from across the table. Seto pointedly ignoring him, and Joey didn't doubt it was because Seto knew how the blond was feeling right now. Once again he was trying to take charge of Joey's life. Didn't he ever consider that Joey might have had plans considering it was the summer break?

"Joey, are you okay?" Serenity asked him.

"Yeah… I'm fine, sis," he said, not wanting this to ruin the time he had with his sister.

* * *

><p>Dinner continued without a hitch, minus that fact that Joey became a bit bitter over Seto's plans without consent. Joey just continued to talk to Serenity and Mokuba until the dinner was finally over. "Would you like to stay for coffee and dessert in the living room?" Seto asked Ms. Wheeler. Joey could see that his mom was one hundred percent won over with Seto's charms and good manners as a host. In most ways, it was a good thing, but right now, Joey was too annoyed at Seto and his "plan" to see the positives in his magical charming.<p>

"That would be lovely." She followed Seto into the living room, sitting in Seto chair, while he, Joey, and Mokuba shared the couch, and Serenity another chair.

"Now Joseph," his mom started, "I can see that this is a good environment for you. And I am happy with how much you have grown since being with Seto. I'm very proud of you." She said getting a little teary. "When Seto told me that you were living with him, I was a tad nervous, but now I can see I have nothing to worry about."

"Ma…" Joey started, not sure what else to say to her. _"I have never seen her this proud of me in my life."_ One of the maids came in with an assortment of sweets, and two different types of coffee and teas. Joey, Mokuba, and Serenity, happily ate the sweets, while Seto had a cup of coffee, and Joey's mom some tea.

"Well Serenity I think it's time for us to go." Ms. Wheeler said standing up from the chair, "Thank you so much Seto for having us over."

"It's no problem at all. You should come over again soon." He said politely back, "I'll go call Roland to drive you home then."

"Joey I better see you again soon." Serenity pulled her older brother into one last embrace.

"I'll call you Sis. I promise." He said hugging back not wanting to let his baby sister go. After the final good-byes, the two females left the Kaiba mansion, leaving the three boys alone as usual.

As soon as they were gone, Joey turned and began heading upstairs to cool down and go bed. Mokuba asked him where he was going but Joey didn't answer. He was still upset at Seto, and he didn't want any of that irritation redirected at Mokuba. He went upstairs to the bathroom and jumped into the shower to cool himself off. A few moments after the slightly chilled water started to calm him down, he heard someone enter the bathroom. Right, he'd forgotten this was Seto's bathroom. He was so used to coming into this one it was habitual. Joey just continued to lean his head against the tile as the water continued to fall on him, not particularly in the mood to care.

"You shouldn't ignore Mokuba just because you're in a bad mood," he heard Seto state and the sink was turned on.

Joey was silent for a while, until finally he said. "Yeah, well, you shouldn't make plans concerning others without even talking to them about it first."

Seto didn't answer this, but instead he finished whatever business he had in there and left, making Joey a little more frustrated because he wanted to rail on the rich kid. He shut the water off and grabbed the towel hanging on the walls of the shower cubicle, drying himself of and wrapping it around his waist before opening the shower door and stepping out of the bathroom. Seto was just finishing getting dressed into his pajamas as he saw Joey enter the room.

"What are you glaring at, Wheeler?" Seto asked, fastening the last button of his night shirt.

"Why do you ALWAYS do this to me?" Joey demanded, not really caring that he wasn't even dressed and his hair was dripping all over the rug and polished wood floor. "Why can't you just for once consult me before doing something that concerns me? I'm sick of you treating me like some pet who's just gonna go with you wherever. At least at my old man's house I made decisions for myself." Joey stopped to take a breath. He hated being angry with Seto, and he hated yelling at him, but the guy made him so angry when he did things like this!

"Ok then Wheeler. Since you don't want my help, enlighten me with your plan after you graduate high school." Seto said confident that Joey truly didn't have much of a plan, _"This will be amusing. I doubt he has even been thinking about something this important. He only focuses on the now.'"_

"Actually Kaiba I have thought about my future." Joey was heated, even though he really didn't understand why, this felt like a pointless argument to him.

"This will be interesting then." Seto said sitting down on the bed waiting to hear the idea that he assumed to be ridiculous.

Joey glared at the brunette for his last comment, "I'm going to make it big as a duelist, winning tournaments and prize money, and make my living playing Duel Monsters."

"Please Wheeler," Seto was holding back a laugh, "You can't even beat me. What makes you think you can make a living off of doing that." Seto kept his composure for the most part though, but it really was hard to hold back a laugh at this plan. "Look at it realistically, not many people can make it big living like that. You need to go to college..."

Joey cut off Seto, "Yah and are you going to college? No." Joey answered for him.

"I run a multibillion dollar company, Wheeler. Plus, I barely go to school as it is. College would just be a waste of time, when I could be doing more productive things like running my business. You on the other hand, need a degree."

Joey sighed and sat on the bed next to Seto, "I know your right about that." Joey finally admitted defeat to the CEO, "But I still don't see why you had to plan this trip to America without me. At least tell me that."

"If I even mentioned it to you, you would have blown off the idea, or not even put any effort into looking into any colleges." Seto said looking into the blonds' eyes, "Here I made this for you." Seto handed him a thick manila envelope.

"What's this?" Joey thought out loud and opened the package to see pamphlets, and applications to at least twenty different universities in America.

"Those are some of the best colleges in theUnited States. You don't have to go to any of them, they are just ideas."

Joey sighed, "Fine I'll look into colleges, and tell you which ones I like." Joey placed the envelope next to him on the bed.

Seto handed Joey a pair of his boxers to put on that way he was no longer in just a towel and the two laid on the bed next to each other. All the tension between them has dissipated, "Do you even know what you would want to major in." Seto asked as he played with the blond's hair between his fingers. "It will help narrow down your search."

Joey pondered the idea for a few minutes, "I know what I don't want to do."

"What's that?" Seto questioned.

"Anything to do with math and science. I really suck at math. Also no history, it's really boring."

"Well that takes away about 1/3 of your decent job options. Science and math are the core foundation for many jobs now of days."

"I do like kids..." Joey pondered off, "What about a PE teacher?"

"NO." said Seto without a moment's hesitation.

"What's wrong with being a teacher?" Joey said not expecting such a quick refusal.

"There is nothing wrong with being a teacher Wheeler." Seto paused, "It's the fact you said a PE teacher. You can do better than that."

"Then what do ya suggest?" Joey asked a little ticked about the comment.

"You are decent with the English language, so why not be an English teacher." Seto finally said after a good five minutes of thinking.

"I'll have to seriously think on that one," said Joey shifting so that he was actually resting against Seto. "So when is this big Americatrip?"

"I have to go to Vegas next month to make some negotiations," Seto explained to him. "The plan was to go to America a couple of weeks early so we could look at the schools you were interested in. Then I would send you back here and I would go take care of my business."

"Vegas?" Joey said in amazement. "I wanna go!"

"Not ten minutes ago you were yelling at me for arranging this trip at all," Seto reminded. "Besides, I'd feel nervous having you running all over the city unwatched."

"If you're gonna drag me to Americaat least let me have fun while I'm there," said Joey.

"Mokuba can't go, so why should I have to bring a different child along?" Seto asked bluntly

"Fine, just remember, I can be as stubborn as you are. This conversation ain't over," Joey warned before rolling over to face away from Seto.

"Nothing you say or do will change my mind," Seto promised before turning out the light.


	8. Red Dog

**Chapter Eight: Red Dog**

_Songs for chapter:_

_Ray Charles – Blackjack_

_Bob Seger – Still the Same_

GAME OVER.

"Hehe, that's my win again, Tristan," Joey said pumping his game controller in the air. "That makes the score fifteen ta nine." Playing video games with Mokuba had really given Joey a boost in his gaming skills.

"You know… I'm starting to think maybe I should join you when you're testing out video games," Tristan sighed tossing his own controller aside.

"Yeah, I'll definitely mention it to Mokuba. He'll probably be okay with it," said Joey. He checked his watched and set the controller down before getting up. "I gotta run man. Job's calling. Catch ya later?"

"Yeah, sure thing, buddy," Tristan said standing up and walking him to the front door. "Don't work yourself too hard, okay man?"

After Joey left, Tristan wondered how he was going to spend the rest of his day. He tried calling Yugi, but when he phoned the house, his grandfather told him Yugi and Tea were out together. He tried calling Ryou, but he must have gotten a wrong number because the person who answered sounded nothing like the Brit. Finally he tried Duke and got an answer. Tristan asked him if he wanted to hang out at his house for a bit. Duke said he could but only for a few hours, and roughly fifteen minutes after ending the phone conversation he was at Tristan's door.

"Glad you could come," Tristan said leading the way to his room.

"No problem," said Duke. "Since I'm here, did you want to continue working on that fan video?"

"Sounds good to me," Tristan said sitting down at his computer and starting it up. "Let's see… now where did I put that disk?" His desk wasn't exactly tidy so he had to shift things around. There was a clatter as a plastic Cd case was knocked to the floor and tumbled underneath the bed. "I think that was it."

"I got it, you just open the program," Duke told him before getting down to retrieve the disk. While searching for it he noticed on the floor a pink cell phone. _"I only know one person with a pink phone like this."_ Duke thought as he pocketed the phone before Tristan would notice.

"I know my room isn't clean, but are you lost down there?" Tristan asked seeing Duke still digging under the bed.

"I got it, Tristan." Duke said coming out from under the bed waving the disk in the air. He got back into the chair and scooted close to Tristan, leaning over him to see the computer. After working on the video for a good forty minutes, he felt the phone start vibrating loudly in his pocket.

"Are you gonna get that, man?" Tristan asked noticing Duke was not getting his phone.

"No, I'm with you Tristan, so no distractions." Duke lied through his teeth, knowing that Tristan would easily recognize the pink cell phone. "If we keep at it we should get the video done before I have to leave."

The two boys kept at the video for another ninety minutes, and the phone kept going off what seemed like every ten minutes. Tristan asked Duke to just turn the phone off after about thirty minutes of the constant vibrating, but Duke always declined to do so. "I should be going now." Duke said getting up from the chair. "Have work to do at the shop."

Tristan walked Duke to the door and was once again alone with nothing to do.

_"I really need to get a job or a girlfriend."_ Tristan thought as he went back to him room. _"Everyone else has things to keep them busy, so why don't I have anything."_ Tristan lay on his bed listening to music, not sure what else to do with his time.

* * *

><p><em>Ding Dong<em>

Tristan woke up, not knowing he fell asleep to begin with.

_Ding Dong_

"Yah, I'm coming!" Tristian shouted and he walked towards the door. _"Am I really the only one home still? Even my family has more of a life than me…Joey?"_ Tristan knew the silhouette of his best friend anywhere. "Hey man, what's up?" Tristan asked as he opened the door.

"Hey, Tristan. Did I leave my cell phone here?" Joey asked as he walked through the door. _"Kaiba will kill me if I told him I lost the phone he gave me. Kit was calling it all through work but no one answered it to say they found it."_

"I don't think so, but you can check my room if you want to," The two boys headed upstairs to the room and tore it apart looking for the pink phone, but with no luck.

"Sorry man, it's not here. Maybe you left it at home?" Tristan suggested.

"Maybe. Well, thanks for helping me look," Joey said with a heavy sigh. "I better head home now," he said leaving the room, "I'll text ya when I find my phone so we can hang out again. Later." Joey left the house and began walking back to the Kaiba mansion wondering, "Where did I leave my phone?"

* * *

><p>Once Duke made it back to his shop after leaving Tristan's house, he found the employee he'd left to man the store texting under the counter.<p>

"You can go now," he said to the employee who jumped up in surprise.

The store was dead; no one was coming in so Duke figured that he would man his own store for awhile. The employee scurried out of the store and Duke sat on the stool behind the counter while making a mental note to himself to find some better help. He reached for the pink phone that was in his pocket, and saw all the missed calls were from one person named Kit.

"I wonder who this Kit is and why she called Joey's phone so many times." Duke continued to scroll down the calls list and noticed that Joey never deleted anything on his phone. "hmmm I wonder who else calls him…Kaiba…I knew it…and Mokuba….hmmmm." Duke continued down the list, and noticed that not many people called the blond, most of the calls were from Mokuba, and Kit, with a few from Seto, Tristan and Yugi.

"I wonder what else he has in here." Duke started to open random applications on the phone. "This is not a cheap phone that's for sure." He finally reached the texts and looked in the inbox first. "Who is Malik?" he thought seeing that 90% of the texts were from him. "Maybe I should read a few."

_"Hey Joey! How is your day going! I'm sad because Bakura rejected me again when I tried to join him in the shower :( :( :( " _

_"Joey! Bakura and I tried a new position today! I'll sent you a pix text showing it later ^_^"_

Duke read a few more texts like that, from Malik, but one finally said what he wanted to see.

_"Hey Joey! How are things going with you and Kaiba? Have you done it lately? Bakura and I have not and I bought a new book for us too. The illustrations are amazing!"_

"So Joey and Kaiba are a couple…this is very interesting." Duke soon switched to the outbox and started reading the texts from Joey. He noticed that Joey never really responded to over 2/3 of the texts from the Malik guy, but did send a few to Kit and Seto. Duke opened one of the texts that Joey sent to Seto, but it was not what he was expecting.

_"Hope you have a good day at work. And let me know if you will actually be home for dinner tonight or not instead of just telling Mokuba." _Most of Joey's texts were similar to that, not really anything romantic or hinting at the relationship. The only thing it did shed light on was that they were living together.

"This is getting me nowhere now…." Duke said and decided to see if Joey had any pictures stored inside his phone. "This is interesting…."Duke thought seeing only one picture stored in there. It was a picture of Joey with Seto. Seto did not look amused, because it looked as if Joey was just doing a paparazzi like shot of the two because he could tell that Joey's arm was out to hold the phone.

"Hmmmmmm I have a new idea now….." Duke thought with an wicked smirk on his face.

* * *

><p>"Bakura! Bakura!" Malik shouted as he ran to his white haired lover who was sitting in the living room of the apartment. "Look!" Malik shoved the phone on the guy's face, "Joey actually texted me for once!" It almost looked as if Malik would burst from enthusiasm at this simple thing.<p>

"And why do I care if he texts you Malik?" Bakura asked, not amused being bothered over something as trivial as a text.

"But Joey never texts me first. I'm so excited."

"Have you not even read the text yet Malik?" Bakura asked, the enthusiasm of the Egyptian was driving him crazy.

"No…but I will!" Malik said as he pressed ok on his phone to open the text.

_"Hey Malik. What's up? How is your day going? Hope things are good with Bakura and ya."_

Malik quickly sent a reply back.

_"Hey Joey! Things are going great with Bakura and I we have had a lot of fun now, since he doesn't have to go to school every day ^_^ how are things going with you and Kaiba? I hope they are going as well as Bakura and I. have you two done anything interesting lately since the pool table incident? I wanna try that with Bakura sometime ^_-"_

"And send!" Malik said excitedly out loud. Bakura just rolled his eyes and they soon drifted back to the book in his hand.

* * *

><p>"That was fast…" Duke thought as he read over the text he had just received. "Pool table incident? I wonder what that's about? He and Kaiba were buying a new pool table…hmmm"<p>

Duke replied back and then deleted the two texts incase Joey actually ever looked at his phone history. "Now what to do next?"

* * *

><p>"Are you doing alright, Joey?" Kit asked Joey once the two had gone on break. Good thing too. Joey looked like he was about to faint from the heat of the summer's day. He was wearing the Dark Magician costume, not the best summer wear; not that it mattered to Seto Kaiba of course.<p>

"Yeah, I just need a cool down," Joey told her wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Why don't you go on ahead to the break room and I'll meet you in there after I get things cleared up here?" she suggested.

"Thanks, Kit. You're the best," Joey said before heading to the employee break room.

Kit began cleaning up and setting up the standards to block off the area until they got back when she accidentally backed into someone.

"I'm sorry," Kit said turning around. "Are you… uh…wow…"

Kit stared in a daze as she found herself face to face with a guy with pretty hair and gorgeous green eyes.

"No need to apologize, it was my fault," he said with a smile. "I wanted to speak with you. You wouldn't happen to be Kit, would you?"

"Yeah, but how did you know that?" she asked in amazement.

"I heard about you from Joey," he told her smoothly. "I thought since you were close with him, you could give this to him for me. I'm sure he's been looking for it." He pulled out the pink cell phone and handed it to her.

"Oh, his cell phone," Kit said taking it from him. "He'll be happy to have back I'll bet. Are you a friend of his?"

Duke smiled slyly. "Something like that."

"I'll get it to him asap," Kit promised.

"Thank you," Duke said taking her hand between his. "You have my gratitude." He released her and left vanishing into the crowd.

"Wow," Kit murmured. "I haven't seen a guy THAT pretty since that blonde Egyptian and grumpy looking albino that came here last week." She quickly snapped out of her daze and finished up before going to find Joey.

Joey was relaxing in the lounge guzzling down a bottle of water when Kit arrived. "Joey, I got a surprise for you," she said and pulled out his phone. "Ta-da!"

Joey's eyes lit up with excitement and he jumped up from his seat. "Aw sweet, thanks!" Joey said taking the phone. He had been so worried he'd lost it for good, and he hadn't been looking forward to telling Seto he'd lost it. "Where'd ya find it?"

"A friend of yours came and dropped it off," Kit told him.

"Really? Who?" Joey asked curiously.

"He didn't give a name," said Kit apologetically. "And I forgot to ask."

Joey assured her it wasn't that important, all that mattered was the phone was back where it belonged. While Kit went to get herself something to drink Joey sat back down and flipped open the phone to see if he'd missed any calls. A small, folded piece of paper fell out of it. Curious, he reached down and picked it up before unfolding it.

_Joey,_

_Your phone was very interesting, and I must say that you should always delete your texts after you read them. If you don't want the press to find out what I read inside your phone, then meet me at the dance club that's two blocks away from the arcade at 8 PM tonight. By the way, nice picture._

Joey looked down at the paper, his eyes wide, _"Who the hell found my phone?"_

"Joey, is something wrong?" Kit came back into the break room with a soda in hand and saw him freaking out. Joey quickly put the paper in his costume and looked back up at Kit.

"What did the guy who gave you my phone look like?" Joey asked concerned.

He saw Kit's cheeks flush bright red, "He was so pretty and had the most radiant green eyes." Her hands were clapped to her face and her body started to squirm as she imagined the dark haired man.

_"No it can't be him…"_ Joey thought only knowing one guy that could make a girl squeal so, _"Duke Devlin."_

"Well, we should be heading back, Joey," Kit said throwing away her beverage after snapping out of her daydream of the no-named bishi.

Joey sighed and he put the giant purple helmet on his head and stood up from the chair he was sitting in. Work went on forever, Joey not knowing what to expect from meeting Duke, about his biggest secret. He did his best to put on a good show for the kids, but Kit could tell his heart was not in it. She wanted to ask Joey about it, but knew it was best not to pry, if Joey wanted to talk, he would say something.

* * *

><p>It was 7:30 and Joey finally off the clock. <em>"30 minutes to get there." <em>he thought as he got dressed.

"See you later, Joey. Have a good night." Kit said giving him a quick hug after he was dressed once again.

"Bye, Kit." Joey said without his usual enthusiasm, but he did try his best.

Joey sent a text to Seto saying he was going to be home late, so to not worry about him, and headed to the club. He saw the dimly lighted stair well the led down into to a loud room. There were no signs indicating that it was a night club, but Joey knew it was the only place it could be. He walked down the stairs and couldn't hear a thing in the room over the loud mix of rap, R&B and techno music. He looked around the room but didn't see Duke anywhere, that was until he noticed a group of about ten girls standing around a guy at the bar.

_"He's the only guy I know that could have that many girls at once around," _Joey walked towards the group of girls, and he noticed the green eyes, and knew that it had to be Duke.

"Joey, I'm glad you could make it." Duke said as the blond approached him, "Ladies could you leave us for a few minutes?" Duke said waving his hand in dismissal, and just like every other time, the girls followed obediently, but squeed the entire time.

Duke stood up from the bar table and crooked his finger at Joey, indicating to follow him before he began moving further into the club. Joey did his best not to bump into too many people as he followed the dice boy to the back of the club into a more private room. Duke shut the door after Joey entered and miraculously it was able to shut out most of the noise. The room had a table and some chairs, a couch, and some potted plants for decoration as well as abstract art hanging on the wall. Duke made himself comfortable by sitting on the couch.

"Have a seat, Joey," Duke invited.

Joey would have preferred to stay standing, but for the sake of moving things along he pulled up one of the chairs at the table and sat down.

"So," Duke said beginning to twirl his hair again. "You and Kaiba. I gotta say, it certainly would have never crossed my mind. I was so sure you two hated each other."

"I don't know what you're getting at, Duke," said Joey, feigning innocence.

"You can deny it all you want, but I've seen enough to know," Duke said smugly. "I should have guessed it when I saw you at that Halloween party, but for the longest time I didn't have any proof, until yesterday that is. You really should be more careful with your personal belongings, Joey," Duke said looking Joey dead in the eyes. "Or at least have enough sense to erase your messages."

"Rrgh… you slime ball," Joey said getting up and grabbing the front of Duke's shirt and talking down to him. "What kinda creep goes through other people's messages? And why the hell would you do something like that? I was actually starting to think you were a cool guy!"

Duke just smiled, reaching up and taking hold of Joey's chin. "You're so dense sometimes it's almost cute." Joey growled in disgusted and tossed Duke back onto the couch. Duke sat up and straightened his shirt looking completely unruffled. "So do you want the whole world finding out what you and Kaiba do behind closed doors? Or will you accept my challenge?"

Joey looking into Duke's piercing green eyes, "What kind of challenge?"

Duke smirked, "All we need is dice and a cup." When Joey heard that he thought back to the day he first met Duke. How he showed off and humiliated him in the dog costume. However, this time it would be different, he would defeat Duke and keep his and Seto's secret safe.

"You're on, Duke." Joey pointed at him. "What are the rules?"

"The name of the game is called Red Dog. The rules are very simple. I'm going to roll two dice inside of this cup and keep them hidden. It's your job to use the two other dice to roll the highest number you can. Then I reveal what the cup rolled. If you roll higher, you win, and I'll forget all about your relationship with Seto Kaiba."

"And if I lose?" Joey asked, knowing there would be a catch.

Duke smiled and reached up to play with a section of Joey's bangs between his fingers. "If I win, then I get to have my fun with you, until I get bored."

"Like dressing me up as a dog again?" Joey asked smacking Duke's hand away, his face burning at the memory.

"Amongst other things," Duke said. "I didn't get to have my fun last time, but this time will be different."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Joey asked both angry and confused.

"I guess it'll never sink in unless I just come out and say it," Duke sighed lightly. "I suppose you could say I have an attraction for you."

"Wha?" Joey almost fell backwards out of his chair. "You're pulling my leg."

"Oh, I'm very serious, Joey," Duke said, his face frighteningly sober. "I suppose I was drawn to your confidence that bordered on stupidity. Plus," his smirk returned. "I guess you could say I like a challenge."

"But… what about Serenity?" Joey asked. "Not that I would ever want to see you with her… And your fan club?"

"Again I would have thought it were obvious," said Duke. "I'm bi you moron. And let me tell you, seeing you in that doggie bondage outfit was quite a turn on for me. I don't think I'd mind seeing it again."

Joey had heard enough. "Fine, you're on Duke." Joey grabbed the other pair of dice in his hands. Duke shook the dice in the cup first, hitting the cup back down on the table hard. "Come on lady luck. Don't let me down." Joey threw the dice on the table, one four and one five. "Alright!" Joey shot a thumbs up, "Let's see ya beat that Duke!"

Duke lifted up the cup showing one six and one three, "A tie. That means I win." Duke's smile grew even wider.

"What!" Joey was in a state of confusion, "We tied, shouldn't we do a do over?"

"Oh did I forget to mention?" Duke questioned cockily, "If it's a tie, the banker, meaning me, wins on default." Duke started twirling his lock of hair again, "so you know what that means now Joey. And the first thing I would like you to do for me is get that doggie bondage costume for me." Duke patted Joey's cheek. It was not the same way as when Seto does it, it was surprisingly colder and harsh on his skin. "Then after you get the costume, we'll have a little fun."

Joey wanted to beat the living daylights of out Duke right now, but he was a man of his word and even in a situation like this he couldn't stop now. Joey thought of Seto, what would the CEO think if he found out this happened, but Joey knew this was the only way to keep him safe.


	9. Tight Leash

**Chapter Nine: Tight Leash**

KD: Hello all. Sorry for not posting in awhile, but you know how life is. Thank you to EVERYONE who commented on the last chapter. Those comments really mean a lot to us. We hope this chapter was worth the wait...so without further ado...here is chapter nine!

_Songs for chapter:_

_Pride by Seether_

"Wheeler, if you are going to go to University in America, you need to start studying for the language proficiency exam. If you can't pass that, then you won't be able to get into any University." Seto said. It was evening, and Joey was finally eating dinner after getting home from the club. Seto joined Joey at the table to keep him company as he ate.

"Neh? Why do I have to take that?" Joey asked between chews of his pasta.

"They need to make sure you are proficient enough in English to be able to do well your classes. If you can't understand the professors how will you be able to pass your classes?" Seto said as if it should have been obvious.

"When is the test?" Joey asked finishing off the rest of his pasta.

"It's in a few months so we need to start studying now."

"Ok I'll study tomorrow…" Joey said waving it off.

"No Wheeler, when I say now, I mean now." Seto said grabbing Joey's bowl and actually rinsing it out for him. "Let's go to my study and start."

A few hours passed and Joey was working in one of the many workbooks Seto had bought for him. Where Seto was working at his computer, but looking up every once in awhile to see if he needed any help.

"Wheeler!"

Joey's head quickly shot up when he heard his name spoken harshly by the brunette's voice. "What? What'd I do?"

Seto glowered at him. "What's wrong, Wheeler? You're zoning out. You have been on that same page without writing anything for the past forty minutes."

"It's nothing, honest," Joey lied.

"You're lying," Seto said without pretense. "Tell me now what's bothering you so much you can't focus on something as simple as verb conjugations?"

Joey's face turned a slight shade of red as he thought about Duke's demand. He had been trying to work up the courage to ask Seto, but was scared that he would read him like a book. He needed to be able to get what he required without him finding out. Joey felt rotten for keeping it from Seto, but what other choice did he have? "Um… Kaiba… could I ask ya a favor?"

Seto's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but still he said, "Go on."

"Well, I know this is gonna sound crazy but… do you still have that costume from last Halloween?"

Seto was surprised that Joey was thinking about that Halloween costume while they were doing work, "And what if I do?" Seto asked turning to look at Joey's face, trying to figure out what was going through that head of his.

"Well, where would you keep it if you did?" Joey was trying to be as vague as he possibly could since Seto is observant to his every thought.

"What makes you think I would tell you that?" Seto closed his laptop, thinking that they would be getting little to no work done now. He got up from his desk and moved to the couch, leaning in close to Joey, but surprisingly the blond moved back a bit. Joey was too ashamed to be intimate with Seto right now knowing what he was doing behind his back. "This is a surprise Wheeler." Seto noticed Joey's hesitance proving his point even further that something _was_ wrong with him.

Seto leaned back and sighed giving in to Joey's request, he knew if he was going to get to the bottom of this he would just have to play along, "It's in my closet. I figured that would be the safest place for it. That is until we wanted to use it again."

Joey sighed thinking that he was safe for now, but the pit in his stomach grew even deeper knowing what he was going to do next. "Thanks, Kaiba," Joey said giving him a half hearted kiss on the cheek and tried going back to his verb conjugations. Seto sighed once again and went back to his desk, getting back to work on his laptop.

After the study session was over Seto and Joey went upstairs to get ready for bed, but instead of sleeping in Seto's room as usual, Joey headed to his old room, from when he first moved in. Seto didn't say a word to Joey, but when he slammed his door shut, Joey knew he hurt Seto worse than he could have imagined and he didn't even do anything yet.

* * *

><p>The next day, Joey couldn't focus on work at all. Kit kept asking him if he was alright, and he assured her over and over that he was fine. Half way through the day, he received a text from an unknown number, but he easily knew who it was just from the message: <em>"I'll be waiting for you at my shop. Be sure to bring what I asked for."<em>

Joey wished that time would slow down, just so that he could stay away from the misery for just a little longer. Time was a jerk, he learned, always dragging on when you wanted it to go faster, and passing you in the blink of an eye when you wished it wouldn't. The end of his shift came, and he got changed out of his duel monsters costume and left after giving Kit a hurried goodbye.

_"Look at me, sneaking around like a sleaze ball," _Joey thought in self loathing as he traveled to the downtown area, constantly checking over his shoulder like a scared rabbit. _"I really have sunk low."_

When he got to Duke's shop, the dice boy was waiting for him. Without missing a beat, Duke pointed to a room. "You can change in there. Don't be too long, or I might decide to just come in."

Joey didn't even give Duke the pleasure of a disdainful glare as he walked past him into the private room. He set his backpack on the floor and unzipped it, pulling out the outfit he had snuck out of Seto's closet. He pulled it on; it still fit just as well as when he first wore it. The only thing that was missing was the collar with the dragon tag. For some reason, this made Joey extremely disappointed. He had hoped that if he was forced to be humiliated, he could at least have that to help him through it. Never did he ever think he would regret destroying that thing.

Joey stepped out of the room to see Duke staring at him hungrily. Joey noticed a collar in Dukes hand, "I see you didn't put on Kaiba's collar. Good." Duke snapped on his collar, it was black and green checkered with a tiny die dangling from it. Duke attached a gaudy chain leash onto the collar and harshly tugged on it, causing Joey to wince in pain. "Be a good dog and follow." Duke pulled harder on the chain leading Joey into the back stock room.

He forced Joey towards his body and licked his cheek harshly. Joey felt no pleasure from the torment of Duke, just dirty. Duke's tongue moved to Joey's lips and he licked them, and then forced a kiss onto Joey. It was rough and overpowering, it didn't feel natural. Duke's scent was nowhere as refined as Kaiba, it smelt of cheap AX, which didn't help the mood at all either.

Duke pulled away from the kiss, his hand trailing up Joey's body to his chest, and squeezed Joey's nipples through the shirt. Joey had no moans of pleasure, but groans of pain and discomfort. Duke's touch was too aggressive and forceful for Joey's body.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

Both boys looked up at this sudden voice and saw Seto Kaiba standing in the door way, arms crossed tightly again his chest, looking extremely pissed. Joey was in a state of shock, Seto has never cursed in front of him before, he was too classy to use words like that. Duke on the other hand pulled Joey in tighter when he saw Kaiba there in his doorway.

"I'll only say this one more time. What the hell do you think you're doing with Wheeler?" Seto stepped closer to the two boys, his coattails of doom flaring out more than usual.

Duke just smirked, "Your puppy found a new master." Seto was now inches away from Duke and Joey, his icy glare looking colder than usual.

"Kaiba…." Joey softly muttered seeing the animosity that was in the cobalt eyes.

"Well, I'm not handing my possessions over to you, Devlin." Seto grabbed the chain connected to Joey's collar, pulling him out of Duke's custody. Joey skidded back from the force of Seto's pull and he was now a few feet away from both CEO's.

What Joey saw next he didn't believe even though he saw it with his own two eyes. Seto made a fist and punched Duke square in the jaw with all his force, sending the oblivious Duke backwards into the wall. Blood was trickling down from Duke's mouth while Seto turned around to face Joey.

Joey stared up at Kaiba, too surprised and ashamed to find any words to say. Seto glared at him for several seconds before reached up and removing the collar from around Joey's neck before throwing it back towards Devlin. "Let's go, mutt," Seto said, grabbing Joey by the forearm and hauling him out of the room, leaving Devlin to nurse his injuries. Seto lead Joey out to where his limo was parked outside and tossed him the back seat with a little more force than was necessary before getting in himself and ordered Roland to take them back to his estate.

For a while, Joey's mind was still reeling as the scenario replayed itself in his mind. Once he managed to get his head together, he felt his shame replaced with resentment. "What the hell, Kaiba? Why'd you do that? How did you even find me?"

"I knew something was going on with you, you're too predictable. And when I came looking for you after work, Nikita said that you rushed off somewhere," Seto said, acid dripping from each syllable. "When I questioned her further she told me about how you lost your phone. Care to explain why you decided to keep all of this from me?"

"That ain't none of your business," Joey said heatedly. "You shouldn't have gotten involved. I'm not some damsel in distress who needed ta be rescued."

"What am I supposed to do when I find another person trying to steal one of the people closest to me?" Kaiba demanded acerbically. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out you were being manipulated. So tell me, how did you manage to end up as someone else's slave, and Devlin's no less?"

Joey was reluctant to say anything. He didn't want to admit to Seto that he had been trying to keep their relationship under wraps. Joey most defiantly did not want to tell him that he was in that predicament from losing a bet either.

While he was partially glad that Seto had come to pull him out of that, at the same time he was irritated because now he was going back on his word, and now Duke would probably publicize them both the first chance he got.

The mood was no better by the time they arrived home. Joey just wanted to shut himself in his room and never come out. Seto had other ideas. Without even so much as a word, all it took was one look, and he and Joey went to the room they shared. Once inside, Seto shut the door and locked it. Joey sat down on the bed feeling suddenly very drained and beaten.

Seto sat on the bed next to him, "I have never seen you this quiet before, Wheeler. Usually it's impossible to get you to be quiet." Joey looked up at Seto with weary eyes and closed them once again.

Joey swallowed his pride and finally spilled, "Duke found out 'bout us and I thought I could handle it on my own. I was trying to protect us." Joey shot up with new found vigor to look Seto in the eyes. He was after all trying to protect them. How was he acting any different than Seto would have wanted to protect Mokuba?

"I don't need protection." Seto said trying not to make it sound as harsh as it did to Joey. "If he was blackmailing us you should have told me and I would have dealt with it."

Joey was upset that Kaiba did not understand his feelings. "That's the problem Kaiba. I don't want to come to you every time there is a problem. I can handle things on my own." Joey was getting defensive.

"This isn't just _your_ problem, Wheeler," Seto pointed out to him. "This involves both of us." Joey's head slightly drooped down, he knew Seto was right in his own respect, but didn't want to admit it just yet. Seto softly cupped Joey's jaw in his hand. "You know I would never lie to you, so why did you lie to me?" Seto's question felt like a slap in the face to Joey, but it was a valid question.

Joey touched Seto's hand with his own. "I did it because I will do anything to protect what's important to me."

Seto finally softened up a bit, he knew how powerful emotions can become when someone you care for is in danger, it happened multiple times between him and Mokuba in the past. "I'll let it slide tonight mutt, but I won't be so lenient the next time you lie to me."

Joey felt relieved that they had finally gotten past this bump, but only time would tell if Duke would reveal their relationship. Joey then remembered how tired he was from today's exertions, causing him to quickly fall asleep on Seto's lap. After Joey was in a deep enough sleep, Seto moved him to the right side on the bed. After getting into his light blue silk pj's he joined him in bed, pulling the covers over the both of them finally getting some much needed sleep.

* * *

><p>After Joey and Seto had left Duke alone, he sat up from the floor resting his back against the wall. His face was hurting and he was a little irritated with the knowledge that Seto's punch would probably leave a vivid bruise. He wiped the trail of blood off his chin, a result of cutting his lip on his own teeth when the CEO had socked him. He hadn't imagined the guy would be so possessive over the blonde haired idiot. Really, it almost seemed unfair. Hadn't he shown his interest first? Of course Joey was so dense he hadn't picked up on it at all.<p>

Duke slowly stood up and headed to his bathroom where he got some medicine to put on his stinging sore. Just as he feared, when he looked in the mirror he could already see his face was starting to swell. This made him feel even more bitter. He was Duke Devlin. He could get any girl at the snap of his fingers, and he'd even managed to seduce a few guys in his time. Yet he was being denied one, tough as nails, thick headed puppy.

He was distracted from his thoughts when he heard the store bell ring and he went to the front, curious as to whom it was. To his surprise, it was Tristan. He hadn't expected him to drop by.

"Hey, man, I finished the movie," Tristan told him. Then he got a good look at Duke's face. "Dude, what happened? You look like you got into a fight."

"It's nothing," Duke said covering his cheek with his hand.

"Come on, man, let's get some ice on that," Tristan said inviting himself in and heading to Duke's employee bathroom.

Duke for once didn't feel up to having company, but he knew it would be useless trying to send Tristan away now. So he locked the store doors and sat in the back of his shop while Tristan brought over a first aid kit and an icepack wrapped in a paper towel.

"Here, with this the swelling won't be as bad," he said handing Duke the icepack before sitting down across from him. He watched as Duke silently placed the cold pack against his cheek. His eyes were staring off into space and he looked incredibly dejected. "What wrong, man?" Tristan asked. Then trying to make a joke out of it said, "You look like you got dumped." Duke gave Tristan such a filthy glare that made the less pretty male almost recoiled in alarm. "Come one man." Tristan said trying to cheer up his friend "You're Duke Devlin. Since when do you let ONE girl get you down? There are hundreds out there that want you."

Duke knew that Tristan was trying his best to cheer up the guy, but he knew he couldn't tell Tristan that it was his best friend that rejected him; he would just end up being punched again. "Yah, you're right. But this person was just different." Duke said choosing his words carefully.

"If she couldn't see what a great guy you are, then she's not worth it man." Tristan gave the typical friend answer to something like that. This made Duke feel even worse now, Tristan knew he was a great guy, but Joey only saw his arrogant, haughty side; not the best way to impress a guy. "We can play Dice Monsters; I know it will make you feel better." Tristan offered, hoping the thought of dice games would cheer up the guy.

"Sure, let's go to my playing arena then." Duke agreed, thinking that maybe playing a game with Tristan would cheer him up. Tristan had been such a good friend to him the past months; it was hard not to have a good time with the guy.

"Good, and I won't lose this time, I have been getting better." Tristan said hoping that some friendly competition would distract the guy.

* * *

><p>Seto woke up before his alarm went off as usual, and turned it off before it started to beep, waking up Joey. He sat up in his bed, back propped up against the headboard. He looked down and took a few moments to stare and the blond next to him. He still was worried about when happened, why did Joey really feel the need to lie to him. It got Seto thinking maybe it was not best to leave him at the house while he was in Vegas.<p>

He got out of the bed and headed into the shower; Joey heard the faint sounds of running water and drowsily opened his eyes. He sat up in the bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Joey heard the opening and closing of the door and looked over to see the CEO drying himself off. "Morning," Joey yawned.

"Good Morning." Seto said as he soon moved to his closet and began to pull on his clothing for the day.

"Kaiba, I did some thinking last night," Joey started, expecting some witty comment from the brunette, but none came, "I think you're right and I should stay here while you go to Vegas alone…"

However, Joey was quickly cut off before he could continue his reasoning why. "Well too bad, because I decided this morning, that you are going now." Kaiba said as he turned around from the closet, with his clothing in hand.

"Neh?" Joey said surprised, "Why did you decide this all of a sudden."

"I thought it would be best if you were to get away from the city." Seto said has he got dressed into his work clothes.

_"That's Kaiba talk for he wants to keep an eye on me after what happened with Duke."_ Joey thought as he finally got out of the bed.

"You need to spend the next couple of days packing for the trip," Seto told him as he packed away his computer in his briefcase. "We're going to be gone for a month, so pack accordingly. You'll need clothes…"

"I know how to pack for a trip, Kaiba," Joey told him, feeling rather belittled at the moment.

Kaiba wanted to continue but he chose not to press the matter further; he needed to get to work anyway.

"Hey… will Mokuba be okay?" Joey asked Kaiba. "I mean, whose gonna look after him?

"Roland will look after him," Kaiba stated. "And it's not like he'll get kidnapped."

"Yeah, of course not," Joey said. "Well… have a good day at work then."

Seto didn't respond or reply but took his leave in silence. Joey sighed and sat down on the bed. He didn't blame Seto for being angry, Joey did betray his trust. He just wished the guy would be a little more understanding about it. Now the guy probably thought Joey really couldn't take care of himself. He wanted to beat Duke Devlin for what the guy did. He was still rather worried though if the guy was spiteful enough to spill Seto and Joey's secret.

Well, no sense in worrying about it now. At least he would be able to have fun in Las Vegas… at least if Seto didn't keep him on a tight leash the entire time.


	10. Hotel Paris

**Chapter Ten: Hotel Paris**

_Songs for chapter:_

_Viva las Vegas- Elvis Presley_

"Roland, I have a list of what needs to be done while I'm gone." Seto said to his older employee.

"Of course Sir," Roland said getting out his PDA ready to make his list. When Seto was gone, he usual made lengthy lists of work to be done, but that was only for about a one week trip. Seto and Joey were going to be gone for nearly a month, meaning the list would be longer than usual.

"We need to hire some beta's for the new virtual game, finalize the design of the Kaiba Land we are building in New York, review the coding for the new duel disks I'm working on…" Seto's list continued for a few more minutes all of it was related to work. "…you will have to do all the employee schedules for the entire month. Finally, contractors will be over on the twenty first to go over the schematics of the swimming pool." Seto said with a sigh, looking over his list once again, making sure Roland got everything.

"A swimming pool, sir?" Roland questioned, his eyebrow rose over his sunglasses.

"It's for the mutt." Seto muttered pulling out a manila folder from his desk, "Here are several designs I was thinking for the pool. See if they can build any of these."

Roland took the folder, "Of course, sir. I'm sure Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Mokuba will be excited to have a swimming pool. Is there anything else, Sir?" Roland offered, even though he knew his boss gave him more than enough work for the month.

"That will be all, Roland." Seto said dismissing him from the study, ready to go back to his own work.

Roland left the study, ready to start his work early, knowing that if he did not start it now, it would never get done before Seto came home. "Hey, Roland, whatchya got in the folder?" Joey asked curiously as he saw the older man walking down the hall.

"It's the schematics for the swimming pool Mr. Kaiba is having built while you two are in America." Roland answered back.

"We're getting a pool!" Mokuba overheard, the two talking, and soon the youngest teen was bubbling with enthusiasm. "Seto said several months ago we were getting a pool, but he never mentioned it since. So this is for real? We are actually getting a pool?" Mokuba asked making sure that his dreams of finally having a swimming pool were being fulfilled.

"That's what Mr. Kaiba told me, sirs. Now if you excuse me, I have work that needs to be done." Roland left the room quickly knowing the two boys were going to bother the CEO to no end about the newest edition to the house.

* * *

><p>A couple weeks later…<p>

"So, Wheeler, have you decided what colleges looked interesting to you?" Seto asked once they were seated in the plane headed for Vegas.

"Yeah…Columbia in New York looked pretty good," Joey said. The only problem was…

"That school is one of the best in America," Seto told him bluntly. "You either need top grades, or a lot of money and connections."

Joey was fully aware of this. "How AM I supposed to pay for college anyway?" There was no way he'd be able to afford it, even with his current salary. Money was the big reason why he'd never even considered college in the first place, and he was not going to use Seto's money to pay it off either. That option was brought up and Joey quickly declined it, no questions asked.

"Even you should be able to get a few scholarships," Seto said folding his arms across his chest. "And you can always take out a loan."

"Eh, I'm just glad we're finally heading ta Vegas," Joey sighed, leaning back in his seat. "I'm getting really tired of planes."

_"Like a puppy, he can't stand sitting still for a few measly hours,"_ Kaiba noted to himself with a gentle smirk.

As the plane began to move, Joey spoke softly to Kaiba. "Hey, Kaiba, I just thought of something. We've never done it on a plane before."

"And we never will," was Seto's answer.

By the time they arrived at Vegas it was almost midnight, meaning the place was hopping and the city was lit up like Christmas. Joey, never having been there, was on the brink of giving himself whiplash with all of the head-turning was doing. Seto was thinking he should have brought a leash after having to pull Joey back three times just getting out of the taxi and entering the Paris Hotel; though the car ride from the airport to the hotel had been much worse.

"Behave, mutt, or I'll lock you in the hotel room for the duration of our stay." It was not a threat on Seto's part, but a promise.

Upon the first arrival into the hotel, the familiar stench of cigarettes quickly engulfed their sense. Smoking is highly common in Japan after all, so the lingering scent of tobacco in the hotel seemed almost friendly to Joey. The hotel was nothing like Joey expected. The entire ceiling looked like an afternoon sky, and the blond found himself entranced by the place. Slots, blackjack dealers, poker tables, covered the lobby and most of the entire bottom half of the hotel. Bright lights, and the constant sounds of buzzers, were going off in every direction. Most of the guests, were dressed fairly lax, with alcohol in hand all having a good time. Seto looked over and saw his puppy moving his head left and right, taking in the fake Paris buildings, and subtle music. Then again, it was the expected reaction from his boyfriend.

"Mr. Kaiba." An older man's voice rang as the two teens entered deeper in the hotel, "We at the Paris Hotel are honored to have you here this week. I'm Alex Wilt, the manager of the hotel. If there is anything you need this week during the duration of your stay do not be afraid to ask me." The man waved over a bell boy who eagerly took Seto and Joey's luggage and began to load it onto a dally.

"Just lead us to our room." Seto said, knowing that he had to be up in a few hours to meet with the CEO's of the hotel to start discussing business.

"Right this way then Mr. Kaiba. We have a private suite prepared for you." Seto followed the man to the elevator, having to pull his excited puppy behind him. Joey was still eagerly looking around the hotel eying what he wanted to do tomorrow while Seto was away at work. As they walked towards the elevator vacant gambling machines were surrounding them, Seto saw Joey's eyes light up. "No Wheeler, you have to be twenty one to gamble in America. Which you are not." Seto saw his puppy's ears begin to droop, and was once again reminded why he did not want to bring Joey in the first place. Every time he saw the puppy ears droop on Joey, he couldn't help but want to see them perked up again. However, now was not the time to be lenient towards the blond.

"It's no problem Mr. Kaiba," the manager said before Joey could say anything back. "We want your stay to be the best as possible, so you and your assistant are more than welcome to the casino. We can always bend the rules for special guests."

"See Kaiba, ya got nothing to worry 'bout, its fine." Joey said with a smile, which made the brunette even grumpier. Joey had been saving up his money, and Seto was hoping that it would be used for college now. However Seto, knew the blond too well, he would gamble his bank account away if he was given the chance to make more money. Even though Joey had good odds with gambling in Duel Monsters, the real thing would be a different story.

With a sigh, Seto stopped arguing with the stubborn teenager next to him and the two continued to follow the manager to their room. Their luggage was already in the room, as the manager opened the door for them. "Here are your key-cards for your room." He said handing Seto two electronic keys. "And if you need anything at all please do not hesitate to call me." The manager closed the door behind himself, leaving the two boys alone in an exquisite French themed room.

"I'm going to bed, I have to be up in about five hours, I have business meetings starting at eight and they will run until about six." Seto said as he pulled his pjs out of his suite case.

"Don't worry 'bout me Kaiba, I'll stay busy." Joey said still thinking about all the things he wanted to do in the casino.

"Wheeler, don't gamble all your money away." Seto said back as he got in bed dimming the lights in the room so Joey could still see.

"I won't, but who do ya know that's luckier than me?" Joey said pointing to himself with a smile. Joey was too excited for the week ahead to even thing about sleeping right now.

"Duel monsters and dealers at casinos are two completely different things, Wheeler." Seto reminded Joey yet again.

"Ya I know, you said it before." Joey said finally joining Seto in the bed. Seto turned the lights off, and fell asleep instantly, but Joey on the other hand could not sleep a wink, all he could think about were the slot machines calling his name.

Seto's cell phone alarm went off at six in the morning and quickly turned it off, not wanting to wake Joey, but as soon as he looked over next to him, he saw the blond was nowhere to be seen. "Wheeler," He said out loud, knowing only one place he would be at this early in the morning.

Unfortunately, Seto had more pressing matters to concern himself with at the moment, so scolding his puppy would have to wait until later. He got up, made himself coffee, got dressed, poured himself coffee, and headed to the place where the meeting was being held. The meeting went on for several hours, from morning to well past noon, and by the end of it Seto was irritated, feeling the meeting wasn't as productive as he felt it should have been.

"It's a miracle anything gets decided around here," Seto thought in annoyance. When he got back to his room, there was no one there. "That mutt…" He headed to the first floor and began to scan every nook and cranny looking for the underage gambler. Seto found Joey at one of the roulette tables. "Please tell me you haven't been here all day," Seto said trying very hard to not sound aggravated and having a difficult time succeeding. He looked down at his cell phone, seeing he spent a good 25 minutes looking for his boyfriend. That was twenty five minutes they could have been doing something more productive.

"Not ALL day," Joey said defensively, not looking up from the game. "I left to get lunch a little while ago."

"Wheeler," Seto said testily. "We didn't come here for you to gamble."

"Just think of it as, I'm earning my tuition," Joey said as the little ball call to a stop on the roulette table and Joey cheered his victory. "I've already racked up 742 big ones," Joey told him with pride.

Seto was torn on whether or not to rain on Joey's parade that $742 was pocket change compared to what tuition would cost, but for once he didn't feel like arguing with the pup.

"Hello, Herr Kaiba," an annoyingly flowery voice said.

Seto turned to one of the main sources of his bad mood for that day. "Do you mind?" Seto said. "I could barely tolerate you during the business meeting, let alone in my free time."

"Are you vorried zhat perhaps zhey might not choose your idea, but vill go vith mine instead?" Zigfried asked smugly.

"Please, the day your company wins out to mine with be the day I stop dueling," Seto scoffed. (note: all dueling is done off screen for this story)

By this time Joey was distracted from his gambling and looked at the new guy. He looked awfully familiar for some reason. "Hey…. Aren't you that guy that was at one of Pegasus's parties?" he asked. Hair and a voice like that was hard to forget.

Zigfried glanced at Joey before looking away with a chuckle. "I didn't know zhey let vermin into zhis hotel."

Joey's temper was immediately incited by the flamboyant German's words. "What did ya say you…" Joey began, standing up. However Seto's arm flew in front of Joey and he sent him a warning glare. Joey reluctantly backed down.

"Zhat's a very vell trained pet you have zhere, Herr Kaiba," Zigfriend told him. "But your tastes leave much to be desired." He flipped his ludicrously long lavender hair over his shoulders and turned on his heels. "Until zhe next meeting, Herr Kaiba. Ta-ta."

"Grrr… I already hate that guy," Joey growled watching the peacock strut away.

"I'm not a particularly huge fan either," Seto commented. "Wheeler, don't lose your temper while we're here."

"What do ya mean by that?" Joey asked as he took his winnings and began to follow Seto back to their room.

"It's nothing, let's just go back to the room and order room service." Seto grumbled, not looking forward to the rest of the week. He was hoping that the obvious choice for this project would be him, but the CEO's were the most indecisive people he had ever met. The two made it back to the room and Joey eagerly looked at the room service book, not knowing what to order. "I don't have any meetings on Wednesday." Set started as he took off his tie and began to make a pot of coffee, "Is there anything that you wanted to be besides gamble this week?"

"What else is there to do besides gambling?" Joey asked looking up from the menu truly dumbfound to what Kaiba could be talking about.

"We could walk around the strip, go see a show, go into the other hotels and look around." Were a few suggestions he threw out off the top of his head.

"I did wanna buy Serenity a gift…" Joey thought for a few moments, "Ya let's walk around the strip then on Wednesday." Joey said excitedly. "Now all I wanna think about is what to order." Joey's eyes averted back to the menu. Seto sipped his coffee and looked at the menu over Joey's shoulder.

After the two finally ordered food and ate, Seto laid back on the bed and started to read a book he brought with him, while Joey began to channel surf on the flat screen in their bed room.

Joey was getting tired, even though it was barely past nine; he spent all day in a casino, and got no sleep the previous night. "I'm going to bed." Joey said with a yawn as he turned off the tv and started to get comfy under the covers.

"Maybe if you did not go to a casino at five in the morning you would not be tired." Seto said closing his book shut and placing it on the night stand next to the bed. Seto got on his side to face Joey, "I am not that tired at all actually." Seto then moved in close to Joey and softly kissed his neck.

"I'm tired, Kaiba." Joey protested, just wanting to sleep, but Seto continued to kiss the side of Joey's neck.

"I already told you, Wheeler, I'm not." Seto then moved Joey's face close to his, and continued to kiss him, but avoiding the lips…

* * *

><p>KD: Haha, oh Seto. Quite the insistent one isn't he? And ol' Ziggy is back too. Not good. Stay tuned to see more of the Vegas trip, cuz it's nowhere near over!<p> 


	11. Try A Little

**Chapter Eleven: Try A Little**

_Song for chapter:_

_Elvis Presley - Night Life and Viva Las Vegas  
><em>

The next morning Seto woke up early again, but this time his blond puppy was still in the warm bed. Seto sighed hoping that today's meeting would be more productive than the one yesterday, but really doubted it. What made things worse though, was that he knew this meeting would be even longer than the one yesterday, he would be lucky if it ended at ten o'clock.

"Good morning herr Kaiba." Zigfried said as the two both approached the meeting room, "Vhere is your pet today?" he said with a mocking laugh.

_"And here is the other reason I'm dreading today,"_ Seto thought not answering Zigfried's question.

"Vhat's zhe matter herr Kaiba?" he questioned, "No vhitty comeback?" he continued to taunt the brunette CEO. However, Seto was able to keep his composure and just sat down at the large table hoping that the day would go faster than it already felt to him.

Joey did not wake up until the early afternoon and felt much better than he did last night. _"Kaiba said there were other things to do here besides gamble. So what should I do today?"_ he thought after he wiped the sleep away from his eyes. _"Maybe I'll explore the rest of the hotel today. And go to the pool,"_ Joey decided, thinking it would be best to not spend another entire day in the casino. Also he did not want to hear another lecture from Kaiba about how he could lose what little money he has from gambling.

So for most of the morning Joey wandered through the hotel, looking at all the things it had to offer. Twice he'd considered leaving the hotel and exploring, but he didn't want to chance getting lost and have Seto scold him later. He had an early lunch before pulling his swim trunks on and heading down to the pool. The pool was located at the base of the Eiffel tower on the rooftop, and boy was it huge, two acres, only slightly bigger than the pool Seto was having built at his house. Most of the adults were busy sun bathing in the lawn chairs while the children swam and played in the pool. As Joey stepped into the cool water, a small water football landed in front of him. He picked it up curiously and saw a group of preteens waving their arms telling him to pass it over. Joey smiled and threw the ball to them.

* * *

><p>During his lunch break Seto decided to wander away from the business meeting room and allow himself some fresh air. If there was one thing Seto hated about his work, it was having to deal with idiotic people. Rather than waste time getting food and not feeling particularly hungry anyway, he traveled down to the pool area where he couldn't help but overhear a ruckus happening in the area. He didn't have to listen long to figure out who and what was the main cause. Passing by, he saw that Joey was wandering around the pool with his eyes closed screaming, "Marco!" and the smaller children would scream "Polo!" in return.<p>

Seto stood for a moment and watched the blond make a complete idiot out of himself as he waded around blindly while the kids swam around laughing and giggling. Seto's eyes softened at the sight and he couldn't help but think that Joey would make a great father one day. He shook himself, wondering why he would think such a thing, and decided he was clearly spending too much time in that damned meeting room. Sparing the blonde teen one last glance, he left unnoticed by Joey.

* * *

><p>Joey was in the locker room drying himself off after spending several hours playing pool games with the kids, after Marco Polo they played colors, water polo, and a few wanted to do racing contests. He decided to head back to the room after he was fully dressed again, not sure what to do until Seto came back. He wanted to go back to the casino again and try to earn some more money but decided he would go back down later.<p>

After a few hours of lazing around the room watching TV, it was finally seven o' clock. Joey remembered Seto would not be back until late so he decided to go to the all you can eat buffet to eat, and then play the slots.

"Come on sevens," Joey said as he pulled down the lever yet again, but only getting one seven and two cherries. "Aw come on lady luck. I need money for college." Joey kissed his cash card before sliding it into the slot card reader then pushed the button once again, "Come on, three sevens," Joey said staring intently at the slot machine. "One seven…" Joey said excitedly as the first bar stopped, "Two sevens…" Joey's eyes began to get wider and the second line came to a stop. "Come on third seven…" Joey pleaded as the third bar slowly came to a stop, but it ended on a gold bar, not a seven. Joey's head dropped and he stood up from the stool, today lady luck was not as kind hearted as she was the other day, sure he won a bit from the slots, but not as much as yesterday. "It's already ten past nine," Joey said looking at his watch. "Kaiba's meeting should be over. I hope he won't be as cranky tonight as he was yesterday. But he does have tomorrow off, so it should be fun seeing the sights." Joey headed back to the room, but Seto was not yet there.

After several minutes of laying on the bed channel surfing, Joey heard the door open, and Seto headed straight to the bed room. "Was today any better?" Joey asked not yet sure how Seto was feeling yet.

"No, and Zigfried is not helping much either," Seto said with a sigh lying on the bed next to Joey. "He keeps bringing up new ideas, of what he could do to make his plan better than mine. Which makes those indecisive CEO's change their mind even more."

"I'm sure that they'll choose ya in the end," Joey said not knowing what the project really even is.

"Of course they will, Wheeler." Seto snapped back, obviously not wanting Joey's reassurance. "Anyways, what did you do today?" Seto asked changing subject rather quickly, "Did you go to the casino some more? Or do something different like go to the swimming pool?" Seto remembered seeing Joey move around the water eyes closed yelling _Marco_ and a few times _fish outta water._

"Ya I went back to the casino, play the slots." Joey said, not mentioning that he lost more money then he made on those machines. "And I explored the hotel a bit. I also swam for a few hours."

"How was your game of Marco Polo? Did you finally catch a fish?" Seto asked with a smirk.

"No, those were some tricky kids," Joey said with a sigh, "Wait…how did you know I was playing Marco Polo in the pool?" Joey asked after a few minutes remembering that he never told Seto he played that game at the pool.

"You were so noisy the entire hotel probably knew," Seto replied not revealing anything. "Have you decided what you wanted to do tomorrow?" When Joey looked away in embarrassment, Seto sighed. "You didn't look into that at all, did you?"

"No, not really," said Joey. He had been so preoccupied trying to kill time that he had completely forgot to plan on what to do for the following day. He shouldn't have expected Seto to plan it, what with being busy with his meetings and all.

"Go down to the lobby and get some brochures," Seto told him. "We can sit down for a few minutes and decide from there."

"Thanks, Kaiba," Joey said leaving the room to grab the information brochures, hoping that this would help Seto take his mind off of whatever it was that was making him unhappy.

* * *

><p>By the next morning, Seto and Joey had planned out where they were going and the tour around Vegas began. Walking was a bother since the crowds of people touring the small strip, however any other mode of transportation would be pointless for the short distance the area was.<p>

There were people dressed up in costumes every few feet, which once again reminded him of back home at Akihabara. There were also people at every corner handing out flyers, Joey took one, not knowing what they were, only to see half naked women all over them. His face flushed red, and he quickly dropped them on the ground as it seemed most people did.

Seto was moving much faster than Joey, easily weaving his way through the crowds. Eventually the two of them came across their first stop. "Look, Kaiba, Ghirardelli." Joey pointed out seeing the large building, with people sitting inside and outside eating ice-cream. Before Kaiba could once again remind Joey his distaste for sweets, the eager blond continued, "I wanna get some ice-cream." He quickly grabbed the CEO by the wrist and began to drag him into the shop. Today was Joey's day after all. Kaiba promised they would do what he wanted, so he just went along with the mutt, without voicing a complaint.

As soon as they entered the corner building, the aroma of ice cream and chocolate touched Joey's senses. "Would you like a free sample?" A woman asked holding a wicker basket full of chocolate. Joey grabbed one, as did Seto to be polite. On the right side of the room, there was chocolate, coffee, and Cacao powder for sale, and the left side of the room was a plethora of white tables with people eating their ice cream. In the middle of the entry way, was a menu with the different dessert options. After Joey grabbed a few chocolate souvenirs for his friends, and Serenity, he went in line to order some ice cream and pay for his gifts.

Joey started to drool looking at the menu, seeing the different ice cream options. There was even a thirty dollar ice cream, which was 8 scoops, 8 toppings, banana, cherry, chocolate chips, and whipped cream. He could easily eat all that ice cream himself, and wanted to. However, Kaiba would not be amused or pleased if he did that, in a public place no less. So he ended up getting something called the Haight Ashberry. It was fresh strawberries, and blueberries, with both vanilla and strawberry cheesecake ice cream; chocolate covered blueberries and whipped cream for topping.

"Want anything, Kaiba?" Joey offered, as he pulled out his wallet to pay for all of what he got, "my treat."

Seto sighed and looked at the menu, "I'll have a cappuccino, with a double espresso shot." Seto said, not even bothering to look at the ice cream.

_"Kaiba is the only person I know who would order coffee at an ice cream shop. But I'm more surprised he's actually letting me buy him something."_ Joey looked hard at his boyfriend and saw the usual dark rings under his eyes, were even darker than usual. _"No wonder he got a double espresso shot. He looks dead. Today is his only day off, and instead of relaxing, he's walking around the strip with me."_

The man at the register said the total, but Joey was too lost in thought about Seto to even pay attention to how much he was spending. He handed his shiny, never been used before credit card, over to the man, who quickly swiped it and handed it back to Joey. He really didn't want a credit card; he was fine with just using cash. However, since they were going to be overseas for nearly a month, and Joey WOULD be studying abroad; Seto thought he might as well get one now, and start to build his credit. Joey really didn't understand why he needed to 'build credit' it's a thought that never really crossed his mind, and probably never will again. All he knew was that it was easier to use the credit card instead of worrying about the Yen to Dollar exchange rate with cash.

After they ordered, the man, handed Joey a number to put at their table, and said the ice cream and drink would be out momentarily. They took a table indoors, instead of one of the outside ones. "You look tired. If you wanna go back to the hotel after this you can," Joey suggested, still worried about the dark circles.

"I'm fine, Wheeler. So did you want to see any shows while we were here?" Seto asked while he flipped through a pamphlet that he picked up in one of the many souvenir shops.

"I'll let you pick…" Joey said but soon a waitress came by, and placed the ice cream, with two spoons in the middle of the table, and Seto's coffee near him. "Thank you," Seto said in English to the waitress, since Joey was already digging into the ice cream.

"Kaiba, you should try some of this. It's really good."

"Wheeler…"

"I don't care that you hate sweets. At least try a little…" Joey scooped some of the ice cream with the blueberry, leaning across the table trying to spoon feed the guy. (Squee!)

"I can feed myself, Wheeler" Seto said icily grabbing the other spoon, and taking a small portion of the ice cream. Joey leaned back, with a sigh, popping the scoop he had in his mouth.

After Joey finished his ice cream, they picked up the tickets for the show Seto picked out, and went to a few more shops, such as the M&M and Coca Cola stores. They went to the show, and afterwards, they decided to explore the other hotels before heading back to the own.

There were two hotels that caught Joey's attention the most, the Luxor and Caesar's Palace. Joey liked the Egyptian vibe of the Luxor, buying most of Yugi's gifts from their gift shop, but was confused if the black pyramid was the actual hotel or not, and if it was, what the rooms were like. Caesar's Palace was huge, and Joey was thankful that they didn't stay there. It was in his opinion the most luxurious hotel on the strip. The indoor shopping center was in his mind the most stunning thing about the Hotel. Like the Hotel Paris, it was trying to look like an outdoor theme setting, Rome, but the Paris paled in comparison to its beauty of artwork, statues, and overall vibe.

Seto on the other had thought that Caesar's Palace was way too gimmickie. Sure he had the money to afford the most expensive penthouse they had to offer, but why waste the money. He did like the Italian theme of The Palazzo, and made a mental note if they ever came back, he would like to stay there instead.

As they walked past the New York, New York, Joey excitedly pointed at the roller coaster, wanting to ride it, however Seto just rolled his eyes, and continued walking without any acknowledgement. They finally made their U turn to head back to their hotel after reaching the Mandalay Bay, ready to just relax in their hotel room.

Both teens changed into their bathrobes and soaked their feet in the hot tub.

"Well, that was fun," Joey commented.

"You fell asleep watching the Cirque Du Soleil performance," Seto commented.

Joey flushed. "I'm more of an action guy. I don't get the interest in that acrobatic stuff... So… how much longer are we gonna be here?" Joey asked after a pause.

"Until the hotel owners make their final decision," Seto told him. "Don't tell me you're getting bored already."

"I was just wondering," said Joey.

When Seto was ready to get out, Joey said he'd be up with him in a little bit, wanting to soak his aching feet a little longer. Joey stayed for another fifteen minutes before growing bored and deciding to head back up to the room. He was surprised to find Seto wasn't there. Instead there was a note that read: _In the lounge._ Joey figured he must have gone to read or something like that. He got changed into his normal clothes before seeking out the brunette and trying not to get lost.


	12. Bump in the Road

**Chapter Twelve: Bump in the Road**

_Song for chapter:_

_Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds  
><em>

"Good Evening, Herr Kaiba," the irksome voice sprouted from around the corner. Seto didn't even bother looking up from his book, since he already knew whose bothersome voice it was.

"What do you want, Zeigfried?" Seto inquired curtly.

"Vhat a temper, vhat a temper." Zigfried said with a finger wave. "I came here for a reason, Herr Kaiba." He continued with a pause, "I'm here to give you one more chance to leave now, vithout the shame of losing to me." A smirk grew on the German's face as he began to taunt Kaiba.

"Please, what makes you think that you will win this deal?" Seto scoffed, "Your no-name company will crumble before me, just like it did with Pegasus."

"Please, Herr Kaiba, ve all know that you stole my ideas all those years ago." He snapped back to the arrogant brunet, "If ve never vere introduced to each other by our fathers, you vould have never gotten this far."

Kaiba stood up from his chair. "What are you talking about Zigfried? I never stole your ideas." Seto started as his temper began to rise, but was soon interrupted by Zigfried.

"Don't lie, ve all know that you stole all my ideas. You are nothing but a copycat and a criminal…"

Seto this time interrupted Zigfried, "I think you are just jealous that my company has been, and always will be, superior to yours. Save yourself the embarrassment and just drop out before another mark of failure is added to your list." Seto declared remaining cool on the outside, but on the inside it was a different story.

"Another mark of failure?" Zigfried questioned, almost laughing, "Your track record is not so perfect either Herr Kaiba." A gleeful smile danced upon his face as thoughts turned in his head. "Your marks of shame are much vorse than mine. How vould you feel if the vorld found out how an orphan really got the rights to a multibillion dollar company?"

"I have no clue what you are getting at, Zigfried." Seto said becoming bored with the conversation.

"Don't play dumb vith me Herr Kaiba. I know that you are the one that killed your father after a corporate takeover. Then you turned around and backstabbed all the people that brought you to the top. I'm villing to bet you vould even go so far as sacrificing your own brother before losing all that you have. You're a miserable, vretched, unfeeling…" all of a sudden Seto saw Zigfried on the ground, and a blond teen, that he knew all too well, with a fist out. Seto looked to the ground and saw a red mark on the German's face. Then not even two seconds later, Joey was on the ground on top of Zigfried punching him none stop while blood was tinkling onto the carpet. Seto realized that Joey must have heard everything, and something Zigfried said must have pissed him off. Feeling his own temper reach its peak, Seto grabbed the back of Joey's collar and with a single, solid tug, hauled Joey off of Zigfried. The blonde was still trying to get at Zigfried when a few moments later, hotel security came in to apprehend him.

"What's going on here?" A different manager that Seto did not know said coming into the lounge to see what was causing the disturbance.

"That mongrel attacked me," Zigfried exclaimed pointing to Joey. Joey was berating heavily, his head hung low as his eyes drifted to Seto, only to see anger and almost embarrassment.

"It's true, sir," one of the security guards stated. "This kid quite literally came out of nowhere and physically assaulted that man there."

The manager glanced between the three teenage males before looking at the security guards. "Please escort the injured party back to his room, and as for you two," he said looking to Seto and Joey. "I'll have to ask that you come with me."

As Zigfried was led away he shouted, "Just you vait, Herr Kaiba. You'll be hearing from my lawyer!"

Joey and Seto followed the manager to his office where he asked both to sit down before settling himself in the chair behind his desk. "Names, please," he requested while turning on his computer screen.

"Seto Kaiba and Joseph Wheeler," Seto spoke stiffly.

"Ah, yes, two of our special VIP guests," the manager said pulling up the names from a list. He turned from the screen and looked at the pair. "Might you explain to me why our VIP visitors are exchanging blows?"

"I apologize," Seto said in a very grating voice. "I can't give any justification for this incident, but I can assure you it will not happen again."

"Let's see that it doesn't," the manger told him warningly. "My hotel doesn't need bad publicity. You may both go now."

Seto rose from his chair and walked out of the room, with Joey silently trailing behind. The entire way back to the room Seto didn't say a word, wouldn't even look at him. When they got back to the suite Joey followed Seto inside and shut the door. Joey felt like he had done something truly horrible, something that sorry wouldn't be able to fix, but he felt he had to at least try.

"Seto..." the blond began, turning to the CEO who had his back faced to him.

Suddenly he saw Seto's body turn, and his hand fly out. Joey reflexively turned his head just in time as the back of Seto's hand made contact with Joey's face. The blond stumbled back in shock, his face lightly stinging as he stared in shock at the teen multimillionaire. Joey had never seen Seto's eyes filled with such wrath and for the first time the blond, for just a split second, feared for his safety. However, the brown haired teen silently turned from him and stalked off to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Joey felt a heavy weight inside his chest as he placed a hand to his stinging cheek. Had he not turned his head, that blow definitely would have left a bruise. Joey never would have believed Seto would actually hit him. His eyes burned as he felt tears building up in them. He quickly shook his head and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to cry, not in front of Seto. Joey tried to calm himself down, tried not to think thoughts like the possibility of Seto dumping him and leaving him in Las Vegas to fend for himself. He went over to the couch and curled up on it; he knew there was no way in hell Seto would want to share the same bed with him tonight, or any other night in the near future.

Joey laid there, listening to the sounds of Seto taking his shower, while flexing his right hand. His knuckles were beginning to throb from hitting Zigfried too hard... or maybe not hard enough. No matter what anyone said, that jerk needed a punch to the face. Joey heard the shower water turn off and after a few minutes, Seto came out of the bathroom with his hair damp and wearing just his pajama pants. Joey watched from his curled up position as the CEO strode over to the couch, reached down, and grabbed Joey by the front of the shirt, hauling his upper half up.

"We need to talk." His voice still sounded as livid as it did in the office.

Joey swallowed before simply nodding 'okay'.

"What were you thinking hitting Zigfried like that?" Seto started, but soon corrected himself, "Were you even thinking when you hit Zigfried?"

Joey really didn't want to look Seto in the eye when he answered this question, "I wasn't thinking." Joey's eyes were still averted, looking at the floor instead, "I just overheard, what he was saying, and I don't know." Joey swallowed, not sure really how to explain this, "What he said just struck a chord in me, and well my fists thought before I did."

"Do you realize what beating up Zigfried like that could do?" Seto snapped back, obviously having no sympathy for Joey's answer. "I could lose this deal now because of the stunt that you just pulled."

"Work?" Joey questioned, "Work!" he was now riled up, his sadness soon turned into almost an animosity, "I just hit a guy, cause I LOVE YOU and all you care about is your work!" Joey was so upset at Seto that he didn't even realize that he said 'I love you' to Seto for the first time.

"Why do you think we are here, Wheeler?" Seto said, ignoring the 'I love you' comment completely."We came here so I could make a business deal. My competitor is Zigfried and you just beat him up. If the higher ups hear about this, they will hire him. They don't want a lawsuit on their hands, and I'm positive that if he does not get picked, he will try suing them for the stunt you pulled."

"Why does this deal matter to you so much anyways?" Joey asked, leading the conversation away from its original point. "You already make enough off of your Duel Monsters gadgets, why do you need this so badly?"

"You are getting off topic, Wheeler," Seto stated, a headache soon starting to form. "I should have never changed my mind about bringing you here."

Joey stayed quiet not sure where the conversation was going anymore. All he knew was that he had never felt worse than he did today. Not even what happened with Duke hurt like this did. His heart felt heavy, and it stung; Seto's words hurt him more than the backhand to the face.

"I'm going to bed now." Seto then left Joey alone in the room, thinking to himself, _"Only an idiot could use those words so loosely."_

Joey curled back on the couch, knowing that he was not wanted in the bedroom at all tonight. While staring at the ceiling he thought back on the spat that the two teens had. _"I will never understand why he is so obsessed with his work…I don't think he even heard me."_

The next morning Seto woke up and went to his next meeting without even giving Joey a second thought. _"I'm not going to lose this deal."_ Seto said to himself knowing that he would not lose to Zigfried even with this small bump in the road.

The rest of the trip wasn't exactly what either would call enjoyable. Neither boy spoke a word to one another unless it was absolutely necessary. Seto ended up making the deal after Zigfried mysteriously withdrew. This, for reasons Joey couldn't comprehend, put Seto in an even further bad mood. Since the deal was closed, they were able to leave early, which Joey didn't feel too broken hearted about. The trip back home was the longest and most uncomfortable trip of Joey's life and he was grateful to be back where he and Seto could have their space, which Seto was quick to jump on. When they arrived at the mansion Seto went straight to his study and locked the door without even saying hello to Roland or Mokuba.

"Joey, what happened?" Mokuba asked the teen as Roland worked on unloading the car.

"I don't really want to talk about it," Joey muttered. It would take too much explaining, plus he'd feel embarrassed telling the kid he lost his temper and beat up one of Seto's rivals.

"Come on, Joey, it can't be that bad," Mokuba said with a smile. "And I'm sure that whatever you did, Seto will be over it eventually."

"What makes you think I did something?" Joey stated defensively.

"No offense, Joey," Mokuba replied sheepishly. "But you do have a knack for upsetting my brother."

Joey heaved a sigh, knowing the teen would keep pressing until Joey caved, so he might as well just tell him now. Joey reluctantly explained the incident at the hotel and Mokuba's eyes grew wide in shock.

"I'm kind of torn, Joey," Mokuba declared after Joey was finished. "A part of me wants to congratulate you, but the other part of me wants to say 'you idiot!' What were you thinking?"

_"These two are more alike than they give each other credit for,"_ Joey thought darkly. "I don't understand… he got the deal, why's he still so upset?"

"Seto isn't the kind of person who enjoys winning by default," Mokuba told him. "And that doesn't even include what other problems this will cause."

"Whaddya mean?" Joey asked, still not understanding what the big deal was.

"If I may, Mr. Wheeler," Roland interjected, as he placed the last of the luggage out of the car. "Mr. Kaiba is probably concerned because it's possible that you're in great danger now."

"Zigfried may not be as powerful as my brother," said Mokuba seriously. "But he's got all kinds of connections, and there's no way he's gonna let something like this slide. He's gonna try to find a way to get revenge on both you and Seto."

"What's the worst he could do?" Joey inquired with a nervous laugh. "I mean, it's Kaiba we're talking about. Besides Yugi, I've never seen anyone get a one-up on him."

"Mr. Wheeler, you can't compare duel monsters to a situation of this level," Roland inputted in his usual sober manner. "My suggestion to you would be to tread with caution… both inside and outside the house. But there is good news."

"Oh really?" Joey asked in disbelief. "And what would that be?"

"We finished the pool yesterday."


	13. Begging for Forgiveness

**Chapter Thirteen: Begging for Forgiveness**

_Song for chapter  
><em>

_They by Jem__**  
><strong>_

"Hey, Yug?" Joey asked as he entered the familiar game shop looking around for his petite friend.

"Joey, you're back from America already?" the high pitched voice spoke up from behind the register. "How was looking at Universities?" Joey followed his friend up the stairs to his room, leaving the game store in Grandpa's care once again.

"It was exhausting. We were looking at new schools almost every other day Yug. I'm surprised Kaiba and I didn't drive each other crazy." Joey took a seat on Yugi's bed and threw a wide grin at his friend.

"Well what school's did you like?" his friend asked curiously.

"Well, I really liked New York University, Columbia, and Vanderbilt, but that's the number one teaching school in America so I doubt I'll get in, and Florida State University." Joey listed his top four schools, since they went to so many and could talk about them for hours upon end.

"What about Las Vegas…that must have been fun." However when Yugi mentioned it, he saw Joey's eyes begin to soften, and he scratched the back of his head nervously. "Joey, did you do something stupid while you were there?"

"If you call almost causing Kaiba to have a lawsuit on his hands, then yah, I guess I did something stupid." Joey's laughed nervously, but on the inside, his heart was still aching from the fight that the two had. _"Seto and I still aren't talking either. Maybe Yugi could give me some advice."_

"What happened Joey?" Yugi asked truly concerned about his friend. "You and Kaiba argued all the time in the past, but he still respected you. Remember Duelist Kingdom? Battle City? It can't be that bad."

"I think beating up the CEO of Kaiba's rival company counts as worse…" Joey started and told Yugi the entire story of what happened in Vegas. Joey left out the part where he told Seto that he loved him, but every other bloody detail was there.

"No offence Joey, that was kind of dense." Yugi stated embarrassed, "I mean, what were you thinking beating up Zigfried like that?"

"I wasn't thinking." Joey admitted honestly, "It's just hearing that creep saying all those things about Kaiba, when he knows nothing about the guy, just pissed me off, and well I thought with my fists."

"Joey, you must really care about Kaiba if you are beating up a guy from him. But still Kaiba's ego is too big to even be dented by words like that." Yugi thought for a moment. "So you and Kaiba haven't talked sense?"

"No" Joey sighed as he rested his head on his hand, "He was just really mad at me, and it's not like I meant any harm, also he still got the job."

"Maybe you should do something to show him you're sorry." Yugi finally suggested after a few moments of silence between the friends. "Do something for Kaiba. Actions speak better to him than words do."

* * *

><p>Joey and Seto did have a brief "talk" about what happened in Las Vegas...<p>

_"Look, Kaiba," Joey said struggling with his end of the conversation. "I've been thinking maybe I did overreact, and I'm sorry about that. But I only did it because... well..." Joey flushed. It was hard voicing his feelings, they ran so deeply bringing them to the surface seemed to be the biggest challenge he'd ever faced. The only reason he'd done it before was because he'd been lost in the moment. _

_"What's done is done, Wheeler," Seto said not allowing the blond to finish. "You at least finally seem to realize just how much of an idiot you were."_

...and while all was partially forgiven, the blond still knew Seto was not happy with him. Joey knew he needed to do something to make it up to the CEO, but what? He looked out the window, keeping an eye on Mokuba while the young teen would cannon ball into the pool, do flips, and just making a splash everywhere. Joey himself would have loved to swim in the pool with Mokuba, but he had too much homework to do. So all he could do was keep a close eye on the young teenager while Seto and Roland were at work.

Joey's mind just kept drifting to how to completely make it up to the CEO. "Come on, Joey, there has to be something you can do ta make it up to him." Seto might have forgiven him in words, but he was being even less intimate than usual. Joey just kept his eyes on Mokuba and the pool. "Wait...the pool. But that... No way, I never want to wear that thing again. But then again… it might just work." As soon as Mokuba was out of the pool, Joey dashed up stairs and headed straight for the closet. There it was. The one article of clothing that brought Joey much annoyance, and a few erotic dreams. However, it might just be the ticket Joey needed to fully be out of the dog house with Seto.

Seto finally got home from another long day of work, Roland had Chinese takeout in tow. "Mokuba, where's Wheeler? I brought dinner home." Seto asked seeing his younger brother at the dining room table, doing his homework.

"I think Joey went to clean the pool after I was done swimming."

"Doesn't the mutt know you clean the pool before you swim in it, not after?" Seto groaned as he headed outside to the backyard, but what he saw was not what he was expecting. "Wheeler..."

A long blond furry tail was swaying back and forth moving with the sway of the net causing Seto to lose his thought process. Joey's head turned around causing Seto to do a double take to see if the dog ears and tail were his normal hallucinations or if Joey really did have them on.

"What, Kaiba?" Joey asked seeing the CEO lost in words for once. _"I knew this would get Kaiba's attention, I can tell by his eyes that he's actually at a loss for once."_

_"I can't believe Wheeler is actually wearing that of his own will and cleaning the pool. We made that bet months ago, and he is still keeping it to heart. I knew he was a man of his word, but to actually do this..." _Seto still stayed quite staring at Joey. It had been over a month since he saw the outfit before him and he forgot how good Joey did look in it. If Seto was not so good at controlling his body's urges, he would take the mutt into the pool house and have his way with him.

"Kaiba, you in there?" Joey asked waving a hand before the blue eyes. "You're spacing out and it's givin' me the creeps."

"What are you doing, Wheeler?" Seto finally regained the use of his tongue. "You should have cleaned the pool beforehand not now."

Joey sighed; he should have figured he would get little to no verbal reaction from Kaiba. Oh how little Joey knew how hard it was for Kaiba to control himself right now. "I'm keep'n up my end of the bet Kaiba. I lost ping pong, so I'm cleaning the pool in this." Joey knew he was stating what Seto already knew, but he really was not sure what else to say to the guy. If any normal person saw Joey doing this, there would be more of a reaction than a simple 'what are you doing?'

"Just get dressed, Wheeler, dinner is ready." Seto was once again in full control of his body as he turned away from the puppy eared teenager and headed back into the house. _"What was the mutt thinking? Then again, when does he ever think things all the way through?" Seto was once again in the house and quickly took his seat at the dinner room table, waiting for the final family member to make his way back in the house._

"Where is Joey?" Mokuba asked as his he began to fiddle with his chopsticks. "Is he done cleaning the pool?" Seto just grunted. No matter how hard he tried to forget it, his eyes would not let him forget the blond puppy. "Se..."

"I'm ready to eat!" Joey said quickly interrupting Mokuba and taking his seat at the table. "Chinese takeout! That's rare." Joey's eyes glistened as he looked at the wide variety of food before him. Seto rarely ever took take out, unless it was from a restaurant he personally trusted getting food from.

"Is the pool cleaned, Joey?" Mokuba questioned as Joey quickly began stuffing his face with the food. Seto was quiet all through dinner, still staring at Joey. Even though the blond was back into his usual attire, the CEO still couldn't help but picture a few times the costume on Joey.

"Yep …" Joey mumbled out between bites, not taking a moment to breathe from his constant eating. Mokuba continued his chatting while Seto ate in silence, and Joey just kept eating. Finally, after Seto took his last bit, he picked up his plate and placed it in the sink.

"I'm going to swim a few laps in the pool then." He stated specifically to Mokuba, "Make sure you finish your homework before going to bed."

"Got it, bro!" Mokuba said now taking his plate over to the sink.

"Ya know, Kaiba. You are supposed to wait an hour after eating before going in the pool." Joey spoke up. It was a stupid thing to say, but since the CEO was quiet all of dinner who knows what has been running through the guy's head.

"Wheeler, that fact is about as true as you saying you could actually beat me in a duel." Joey's right hand created a shaking fist, loosely hanging in the air, but before he could react, the brunette had already left the room and was headed for the pool house to change into his swim wear.

"That jerk!" Joey finally spewed out. "Why did I even bother trying to make it up to him earlier again?"

* * *

><p>Seto had his navy Speedo Endurance Jammers, but opted not to wear his goggles while doing laps. He dove off the edge straight into the pool and started off doing freestyle at a slow pace. While doing a flip turn, he switched into backstroke. The water was warm against his skin and the motion of the laps was soothing to Seto's mind. So he switched it up to the more powerful breast stroke and continued to do another 100 meters, then switched strokes again. After completing 500 meters his body hung at the edge of the deck. He grabbed his water bottle and squirted some of the water in his mouth.<p>

"Kaiba, that was amazing. I didn't know you could swim so well." The blond was sitting on one of the deck chairs. The stop watch that sat on the table was in hand. "You were able to do the 100 meter breast stroke in 1minture and two seconds. Where did you learn how to swim so fast?"

"Please Wheeler, proper swimming training was taught to me at a young age. Gozaburo wanted me to excel in everything. Swimming was no exception. I was told it can clear your mind. It has proven to be quite effective on several occasions." Seto used his arms to push himself out of the water and Joey's eyes quickly veered down to the skin tight Speedo Seto was wearing. The seaming along the crotch area especially stood out to Joey.

"What's that?" Joey stammered pointing to Seto's choice of swim wear. Joey could feel himself being aroused by the sight, and gave himself a metal slap for it. He had seen Seto in this little of clothing several times, but it was never as skin tight at this. The effect the water was giving off on Seto's skin was not helping either.

"It's my lap swimming shorts, Wheeler. Normal swim trunks slow you down."

Joey threw the fluffy white towel at Seto's head. "Just dry off now, Will ya?" he said now looking away embarrassed by what he was imagining. _"Come on Joey, it's just a swim suit. But still, maybe this could work better than the Halloween costume."_

"What's the matter, Wheeler? We've seen each other unclothed many times. Why so modest now?" The deep voice was hushed into the blonds' ear. Even though they were the only two outside, Joey couldn't help but feel even more aroused. Earlier, that's what he was trying to do on Seto, but the tables were now being turned.

"I'm not embarrassed, Kaiba!" Joey final shouted with confidence. "I just didn't expect you to be wearing this."

"Well I didn't expect you to be cleaning the pool in your Halloween costume when I came home from work today. If that was your way of being sorry after what happened, you need to do better than that." The gleam in Seto's eyes said it all; that if Joey really intended to be sorry while wearing that costume, he needed to go all the way, which he failed at.

"Well, expect this, Kaiba!" Joey pushed Seto back into the pool, then quickly stripped down to his boxers and jumped into the water himself.

"Don't think you're getting off for that, Wheeler," Seto told him, shaking water out of his soaked chestnut locks. "Just wait until later."

"I'll take that risk, thank you," Joey said smirking. "I'll race ya."

The race turned out to be more of a, Joey swam as fast as he could while Seto went at his own pace, practicing the four basic swimming strokes. Joey tried to copy him, and soon got tired out from trying to do the butterfly without looking like a drowning pigeon. He even managed to talk Seto into a little of water football. Much to Joey's surprise Seto had both good aim and good throwing strength. It upset Joey every time Seto said 'fetch' when he threw the ball. What made Joey happy though was that Seto seemed to be gradually warming up.

After about an hour or so, Seto climbed out of the pool and went to the hot tub. Joey was amazed he didn't see steam rising up since Seto had the compassion of dried ice most of the time. He laughed at the imagery as he too got out of the pool and join Seto in the hot tub.

Joey tentatively eased closer to Seto and leaned against him. "I know I've said it a hundred times already but… I really am sorry. It's just… when I see a person messin' with someone I care about, I… I just snap and…" Joey stopped when Seto reached up and stroked his head.

"At least you're a loyal mutt," Seto said. "Dumb at times, but loyal."

"Sorry for being so dumb," Joey said irritably.

"I said sometimes," Seto said. "Like right now."

"Whaddya mean?" Joey asked.

"Actions speak louder than words, pup," Seto said. "Why don't you show me how sorry you are?"

Joey was a little surprised. They were outside and all, but the biggest shock… was Seto actually inviting Joey to…? Joey looked up at Seto who was staring down at him expectantly. Joey decided not to miss his chance. He leaned up and kissed Seto on the mouth. At first the young president was unresponsive, but after a bit of lip nibbling he started to give a little feedback. Joey moved so that he was sitting on Seto's lap in the hot tub, facing him, knees straddling his lover's waist. Joey ran his fingers through Seto's wet hair while simultaneously mapping out the already exposed areas of Seto's body.

After a few minutes Joey sighed and wrapped his arms around Seto's neck. "Sorry… but is it okay if we just…it just doesn't feel right...here…and all…"

"Hmph, you're a lot smarter at times than I thought, mutt," Seto chuckled, and he… not quite hugged but placed one of his arms around Joey in an embracing fashion.

Joey shuddered a when he felt Seto's lips, teeth and tongue began unconscientiously working on the sweet spot of his neck. "K-Kaiba…" he gasped when Seto's free hand began roaming in unseen places.

"I told you you'd regret pulling me into the water later, pup," Seto snickered and continued to torture his puppy.

However, Joey was not going to let that torture ensue. He knew if he really wanted Seto's forgiveness he would have to take not only Yugi's advice but Seto's taunt.

Seto chlorine lips finally stopped working on Joey's neck and was about to move to other places, but Joey quickly stopped him, "Not out here..." Joey started quickly getting out of the pool, leading the CEO to the pool house. Seto tried to break free a few times from Joey's grip with no avail, Joey knew his strength was greater than Seto's but was always hesitant to use it. But not now. Not when Seto's challenge rang so clearly in his ears.

The door to the pool house was slammed shut behind them. Seto tried to break free of the grab still, but Joey wouldn't let him this time. Not now. Joey pulled Seto into a rough kiss, forcing his tongue into Seto's mouth. Seto was resisting. The same game they always played. The same mutt rebel's, but the master will win in the end start off. There was nothing tender bout this kiss and Joey's hand in instinctively holding on even tighter to Kaiba. Both only had one free hand, and Joey was going to use his to the full advantage. His hand gently rubbed over the navy swimming shorts Seto was wearing. Even though Seto was good at controlling his body urges mentally, his actually body in itself couldn't deny it's wanting for the blond's touch.

"What do you think you are doing mutt?" Seto fumed after the battle of their tongues had ended.

"I'm showing you I'm sorry." Joey barked back. Joey grabbed Seto by the shoulders and accidentally slammed the CEO hard into the door, but ignored it, and dropped to his knees. The blond hand pulled down the swim shorts of his lover with much difficulty since they were still wet, but did it semi quickly. Joey's mouth quickly engulfed Seto's warmth. He couldn't see the reaction of the brunette's face, but hope it was as close of a surprise as the CEO could get.

_"What are you doing, Joey?" he thought as his mouth continued to please Seto. His tongue was twirling around the width of Seto. He could feel the small vain that was always protruded when Seto was hardened, and began to follow that. _"It's dangerous to be this rough with Kaiba. I could hurt him if I use my full strength. But this is the only way I know he will listen to my apology." As Joey reached Seto's tip, his teeth sensitively clammed down as he pulled out. Seto's usually stiff body when they were making love was a bit relaxed. Joey's mouth soon turned attention to Seto's sack, and licked it ever so slowly all the way across the front. A hushed groin of pleasure escaped the usually stoic lips.__

Joey's attention then went back to Seto's length, were a small amount of precum was forming, so Joey licked it off. The taste wasn't what he expected. It was weird, but salty at the same time. Joey finally stood up and looked directly into the cobalt eyes. "See, I can be on top and make you enjoy it."

"You're going to regret that, mutt." Seto's eyes were narrowed from the cockiness of his resilient puppy. But a smirk was starting to form, causing Joey to be caught off guard as he was now pinned down to the floor, moaning in pleasure from the touch of Seto's lips on the side of his neck. _"Who would have though the mutt had that much in him? I didn't think he would go to such measures to be on top. However I'll show him, that I'm the one that will be on top. Always have, and always will. I will make sure that he doesn't fulfill that promise of being on top any time soon."_

Seto's hand moved under Joey's wet boxers, and the blond was readily hard. The precum was already formed on top and Seto's index finger danced on it, rubbing the small portion on the tip. Joey's warmth was now free as Seto pulled it out of his boxers. He began to stroke it up and down, and his mouth now moved to Joey's nipples, his teeth gently nibbling at them. Joey was breathing heavily, his firm body moving up and down from the ecstasy he was receiving. Seto turned around, and Joey let out an even louder moan as he felt the warmth of Seto's mouth upon him. However Joey was trying to stay focused. Joey's mouth was once again engulfing Seto. This caused his lover's rhythm to be off now. However, to Joey, this was a good thing. He had taken the CEO by surprise.

Soon the two were in a similar rhythm, both sucking each other and their hands fondling their sacks. It was silent in the pools house due to them both being absorbed in trying to outlast the other. Joey was the first to pull out. He was always the quickest to cum.

"Kaiba I'm about to cum" Joey panted and then soon went back to pleasing his lover.

However, Seto didn't stop. In fact, it made the force of Seto's mouth even more powerful, the once light touching of the teeth was now rougher. Joey wanted to badly to moan out in pleasure, but at the same time, he wanted to keep on pleasuring the brunette. Seto's hand soon moved to his own warmth. Joey knew that it meant the CEO was about to cum too, or prevent himself so he could finish off the blond himself. However, Joey swatted the hand away as much as he could, and as he felt his own pleasure being released, he felt the saltiness of Seto entering his mouth. It tasted similar to the precum, but the texture seemed to be thicker, since more was coming out. Joey tried to swallow it as it kept coming out, however, it seemed like Seto was more productive than him in that since, some of it was escaping the side of his mouth. Joey used is tongue to lick the side of his moth to get the last bit of it before it dried on his skin.

Joey was waiting for some snide remark from Seto about the action, however Seto said something that he least expected.

"Come on, Wheeler, we need to go back to the pool to clean off."

These words took Joey by surprise. What was going through the CEO's head right now? What was he ever thinking while they were having sex and its many variations? "Are we going skinny dipping?" Joey asked, thinking what the two could do once they were ready again in about half an hour.

"No, Wheeler. Laps. You need to work on you upper body strength more, if you are ever going to fully dominate me."

* * *

><p>KD: Ah the sweet calm before the storm...wait...a storm...and the lovely bliss of ignorance...wait...ignorance to what...join us next time...when we have the motivation to post the next chapter ^_-<p> 


	14. Out in the Open

**Chapter Fourteen: Out in the Open**

_Song for chapter  
><em>

_Till Tomorrow - Don Mclean_

"Mr. Kaiba! Mr. Kaiba!" Roland exasperated, as he forced his way into Seto's study. It was an early Tuesday morning, and Seto was once again skipping school to go to work. "Mr. Kaiba have you seen the news!" The older man was almost in a state of hysteria, however Kaiba remained calm.

"Yes Roland I have." Seto sipped his coffee, nowhere near as worried as Roland was about this unknown situation.

"Sir what shall we do about it?" Roland said trying to calm himself down. "I mean, they are outside Sir."

"Roland, we will do what we always do. You and I will go to work and Mokuba and Wheeler will go to school." Seto took another sip of his coffee, "Speaking of Wheeler, where is he? I have not heard him barking all morning?"

"Mr. Wheeler went to school early sir." Roland said with a pause, "He was meeting with some of his teachers about college recommendations. He must have left before this morning's news."

"Good." Seto said standing up and grabbing his briefcase. "Let's get Mokuba, drop him off at school and go to work."

"Of course sir." Roland left the room immediately, to go fetch the younger Kaiba. Seto sighed after finishing off the rest of his coffee not looking forward to the day ahead of him.

* * *

><p>"Hey Tristan you better get down here." The older sister's voice rang through the empty house.<p>

"School isn't for another hour sis what is it?" Tristan yawned walking into the kitchen ready to fix himself some breakfast.

"I think I just saw Joey on the tv." She said her eyes wide as she looked at her younger brother.

"Ya right, Joey isn't that good of a duelist…" Tristan started to laugh as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"Tristan, I don't think it has anything to do with card games…" the commercials on the tv soon ended, and the news station was back on, showing a picture of Seto Kaiba and a blond haired teen making out in a swimming pool. The two siblings soon were silent as the new caster began to speak.

"Everyone wonders what the young teenage business man and world renowned duelist Seto Kaiba does when he is not playing duel monsters or working on his next big dueling invention. And, well folks, now we know. These pictures were mysteriously sent to our news station this morning, showing the CEO kissing another teenage male." The news woman paused to take a breath. "Our research team, discovered that the other young man in the photograph is Joseph Wheeler. Also a world renowned duelist, and has dueled against the CEO on several occasions in tournaments. The question at hand is, how long as this secret relationship been going on, is Seto Kaiba really homosexual, and who was the mysterious sender of these photographs?" There was another pause, "Mr. Kaiba is currently taking no questions on the topic, and Mr. Wheeler, is nowhere to be found. Only time will reveal the true nature of these baffling photographs."

The news station now blew up the pictures and Tristan's sister finally averted her eyes away from the screen, "Tristan did you know about this?"

However, Tristan could not answer his sister, he was in a state of shock, _"Joey and Kaiba! How? When? Why? I thought Joey had a girlfriend. Has he been lying to me all along?"_

"Tristan, are you ok?" his sister put her arm around his shoulder. "I'm guessing by your reaction that, you didn't know."

"Joey…lied to me." Was all Tristan could sputter out as he saw picture after picture of Seto and Joey together.

"Joey lie?" he sister asked, with a light laugh, "He is the most honest person I know. He has a heart of gold, wait scratch that, Platinum." Tristan's face was red with anger,

"He told me he had a girlfriend. A FEMALE GIRLFRIEND! He hated Kaiba, he always had."

"Tristan…" She started not sure what to say to her little brother.

"I'm going to school now." Tristan said stomping out the door and slamming it shut behind him. _"I can't believe that Joey would lie to me. I thought we were supposed to be best friends." _

* * *

><p>Joey finally left the teachers' lounge after a long discussion about his future and getting the three recommendations that he would need for every school he was applying to. While he was walking down the hall, the girls and even some of the other guys would get really quiet when Joey walked past them, then when he was out of ear shot, the chatter would once again start up.<p>

"I wonder what's going on."

He got into his classroom, just before class started, so he didn't have time to talk to his friends, but he could feel the tension in the room, and something did seem terribly wrong.

At first he tried to just ignore this feeling of apprehension, but a quarter of the way through the lecture, he felt something sharply hit him in the side of the head. He searched around for the source, but only found an eraser on the floor. He reached down to pick it up and stared at it, wondering if that was what hit him. Suddenly another sharp pain hit him, this time in the back of the neck, and he yelled in surprise.

The teacher paused in his lecture and turned to Joey. "Something you'd like to say, Mr. Wheeler?" the teacher asked while peering at Joey over his rimmed glasses.

"No, sorry about that," Joey replied sheepishly. He could hear other kids in the class room snickering and he felt his face heating.

The teacher returned to writing on the chalk board and Joey tried once again to just focus on taking notes. Yet again, not five minutes later, another stinging sensation made itself known on his forehead area and something clattered onto his desk. It was a chunk of staples stick stuck together. He glance around the classroom and was suddenly aware that several people in the room were leering at him. He couldn't figure out what he had done to upset so many people.

When class was over Joey took advantage of the break into between classes to talk to his friends. Before he could ask them what was going on, however, a kid on the far end of the class called out, "Hey, homo, shouldn't you be tonguing your boyfriend right now?"

A lot of the kids in the class started to laugh and another person spoke up, "I didn't know duelists were allowed to be gay."

This caused more laughter and Joey was even more confused than to begin with, but a feeling of dread was beginning to slowly seep in. "Guys, what the heck's going on?" Joey asked his four friends. (In case you've forgotten: Tea, Yugi, Tristan, and Ryou)

Tea looked reluctant to answer. "You mean… you didn't see the news or the paper this morning?"

Joey shook his head.

"There are pictures of you with your tongue down Kaiba's throat all over the place," Tristan snapped viciously causing all of them to stare.

The horror of this revelation came crashing down onto Joey and he found himself hoping this was just a nightmare and he would wake up any second. He'd never seen Tristan so upset. Joey knew he had every right to be. "Tristan…" Joey started. "I was gonna tell ya…"

"Save your bullshit!" Tristan shouted, causing the rest of the class to become silent as they looked on, probably hoping for a fight. "I don't even know you anymore!"

"Tristan, calm down," Tea told him.

"I'm sure Joey had a good reason for not telling us," Yugi said in his defense.

"That's right, Joey hasn't done anything wrong," Ryou piped up.

"What's with all the commotion?" The teacher asked as he stepped into the room. The class remained silent still, "Good." He said starting the next class. The bullying from a few classmates continued through the entire lecture. A few times, the teacher actually saw the kids throw pencils and paper footballs at Joey's head, but didn't do a single thing to stop the kids.

It was finally lunch time, and Joey quickly left the room and headed straight to the school roof. He pulled out his phone and pressed the speed dial for Seto's number.

"What is it, Wheeler?" Seto asked without saying hello. Joey did not expect one, but it would have been nice to hear something pleasant today.

"Kaiba, did you know that we were on the news this morning?" Joey asked, not really sure what the news did say or show.

"Yes, I did. I'm choosing to ignore it and so should you." Seto commented back.

"Ignore it? How do I ignore it?" Joey asked incredulously.

"Since when do you care what other people think of you?" Seto asked empathetically, "I have to get back to work. We can talk about this later."

"Bye then." Joey said with a sigh and hung up his phone.

"Calling him on the roof alone won't help your cause." Joey knew the voice, and Ryou was now Bakura, "Malik forced me to watch the news this morning, and I must say I'm surprised they can show photos like that on the news."

*brief flashback*

"Bakura, look at the television set." Malik shouted, jumping up and down with excitement.

"I have to go to school, Malik." Bakura groaned, wondering what the Egyptian was looking at now.

"But Bakura, Joey is on the television. And he looks like a very good kisser." Bakura's interest was slightly piqued and he decided to walk over to the living room to see what Malik was talking about. He saw several pictures of Joey and Seto making out in a hot tub. Most of them had Joey sitting on top of Seto though. "Bakura how come we have never made out in a hot tub?"

"I'm going to school now, Malik." Bakura said, ignoring him and leaving the apartment finally.

*End of flashback*

"Were they that bad?" Joey asked, wondering what they looked like.

"You can see them yourself," Bakura said, "The pictures were on the cover of every newspaper and magazine. So I'm sure if no one saw the news, they probably saw those pictures on the way to school that way."

Joey groaned, "How did this happen?"

"If it makes you feel better, I can banish everyone to the shadow realm." Bakura suggested. After all, this could be his once chance to get away with doing something evil, and it technically, would be helping Joey.

"Nah, that's ok, Bakura," Joey said nervously, "Besides, how long will this last? I'm sure in a few days it will all blow over." Joey was trying to convince himself that that last statement was going to be true.

Joey looked over the edge of the school roof, and saw several news cars pull up near the school. They were setting up cameras and microphones, as if they were going to bombard Joey as soon as he got out of school. He saw a few of the teachers heading over towards the trucks, he was hoping that they were going to try to shoo them away, but he didn't know what was going on down there.

He felt Bakura clap a hand to his shoulder and say, "If you ever change your mind, let me know."

* * *

><p>In the cafeteria, Duke was enjoying a nice lunch with five other females. They were all laughing, talking and having a good time, when suddenly Tristan showed up and planted himself at the table. This caused several of the girls to become indignant.<p>

"Please, Tristan, have a seat," Duke invited with mild sarcasm.

"I need to talk to you," Tristan told him seriously.

Duke sighed before raising his hand. "Ladies, could you give us a few minutes?"

The girls groaned in both disappointment and resentment at the idea of leaving but did so at his request. "So what's got you looking so cheerful today?" Duke asked him, relaxing back in his seat.

"Don't tell me you didn't hear about today's big topic," Tristan muttered darkly.

Duke stared at him impassively. Yes, he had seen the news, as well as heard it on his car radio while driving to school. Apparently Seto and Joey hadn't taken enough caution to keep their secret hidden. Though Duke was surprised the secret had lasted even this long. "What about it?" Duke asked nonchalantly as if the news held no interest for him.

"Joey… how could he do this to me? All this time… how long has this even been going on for? I thought he hated Kaiba, and yet… we're supposed to be best friends!" Tristan ranted. "What he's doing… it's disgusting."

Duke's forehead crinkled as he frowned. "Don't you think you're being a little harsh?" Duke asked him.

"He lied to me!" Tristan exclaimed, slamming his fist down on the table and causing Duke's lunch tray to jump. "He snuck around behind my back and didn't tell me anything. I knew he was being weird and distant but I never thought…"

"Look, I realized you're upset by all of this," Duke started. "But he's still your friend."

Tristan shook his head. "I don't know, man. I don't think he is… Joey's kept stuff from me before, but that was to protect someone else. This… this isn't something the Joey I know would do. I don't know who that guy is anymore."

At that moment, Duke truly felt badly for Joey. He hoped Tristan would eventually calm down and go back to his 'friends stick together until the very end' motto he based his life on.

* * *

><p>Seto was in his office, receiving call after call from different news stations asking to set up interviews. The only somewhat reasonable call he received all day was the one from Joey. So, Seto ended up having his secretary disconnect her phone for a few hours, just so he could get his work done. After about ten minutes of newfound silence, he heard a phone ringing, "Who is it now?" Seto groaned, seeing that it was in fact his cell phone going off. Without even looking at the caller id, he flipped his phone open, "What?" he asked agitatedly, not really caring who it was on the other line.<p>

"Ooo, Kaiba boy. Having a rough day at the office?" The fantabulous voice rang into Seto's ears.

"What do you want, Pegasus? I'm busy." Seto said back as calmly as he could, but was still fed up with distractions.

"I just wanted to give you my personal congratulations on this happy occasion. Who would have thought that you would be dating young Wheeler? Then again, I should have seen it coming. You always were drawn… "

Seto hung up his phone before Pegasus could continue he long rant, and shut the phone off completely. Today was going to be a long day after all.

* * *

><p>School was over finally and Tristan was ignoring Joey still, and instead was talking with Duke, almost as if he was a replacement best friend. As Joey went to his locker to change shoes, he saw Roland standing next his shoe locker. "Mr. Kaiba sent me to get you," Roland said explaining why he was at the school. Joey sighed, but was thankful that he did have Roland with him. Roland and Seto were after all used to dealing with the press, but for different reasons.<p>

As Joey left the school, Roland stood in front of him the whole time, while the news reporters tried to get a word out of Joey. However, Roland was able to push his way through, and get Joey into the limo without a hitch.

Roland took Joey straight back to the mansion, where a few news casters were waiting, cameras and microphones in hand, but since they could not enter the Kaiba property, their attempts were futile. Seto and Mokuba were both already home and waiting for Joey in the living room. The silence from the two bothers was nerve wrecking, since Joey didn't know what to talk about.

"Hey, Joey." Mokuba said half heartedly, "How was your day?"

"I've had better." Joey said sitting down.

"Same here," Mokuba replied.

"Well, Seto, what did you want to talk about?" Mokuba asked looking towards his big brother.

"I want to discuss about this current situation." Seto started, "I already told every Kaiba Corp employee that if I even hear them thinking about talking to the press they would be fired on the spot. I want you to both do the same. It will all blow over eventually. Now, how did school go for both of you?"

"The kids in my school were kinda mean, but nothing I can't handle, big bro. Besides who cares what they think?" Mokuba smiled looking between the two older teens.

"Wheeler?" Seto asked, "Did you have any problems?"

Joey really didn't want to tell Seto what happened, but at the same time he didn't want to lie to the guy either. He felt bad enough lying to Tristan that he didn't want to do the same. "Ya, there was some bad talk towards me, but nothing Joey Wheeler can't handle. I just wish Tristan handled it better." Joey said telling Seto what he thought he needed to know.

"You never told Tristan?" Mokuba asked thoroughly surprised, "He's your best friend Joey." Seto also was a bit surprised by this news as well. He did tell Joey that he could tell his friends the truth, but in the end Joey only told Yugi.

"The only person I ever told was Yugi." Joey explained, "So anything else?" he asked, hoping that no more questions about his day would be asked.

"I'm looking into who took those pictures of us." Seto added, "That person will regret what they did."

"Do you have any leads, Seto?" Mokuba questioned, "You guys did do a good job of keeping it low for so long. Besides Yugi, Roland, and myself who else knew?"

"Bakura and Malik." Joey threw out. "But they have no reason to do something like. Duke knew too." When Joey mentioned Duke's name, he saw the look of revulsion in Seto's eyes.

"Well then, let's just go on and ignore the press. As soon as I know anything, you will know." Seto said ending their brief meeting. "And Mokuba, tell me if anything happens while you're at school."

"Of course, Seto." Mokuba said getting up from the chair and leaving the two older boys alone.

"Hey, Kaiba…" Joey started, "Do you have any ideas who took those pictures of us? I mean we were in your backyard, it's not like we were in public."

"I have a few suspicions, but you just focus on your schoolwork and getting into college."

"You seriously expect me to act like nothins' wrong?" Joey questioned skeptically.

"Yes, Wheeler, I do." Seto said ending it at that. "Your sister called the house earlier to check on you, you should call her back." he added heading to his study to finish the work he could not get done earlier today.

Realizing he wasn't going to get any further tonight with Seto, Joey went to his room and called up his little sister. "Hey, sis, how's it going?"

"Oh, Joey! I'm so sorry. I saw the news and… are you okay?" Serenity sounded beside herself with worry.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Joey assured her. "What about you guys? How's mom?"

"She's fine, but she's really worried about you too," Serenity explained. "No one's been around to bother us."

Joey was relieved to hear this. After a fifteen minute talk with his sister, assuring her that he would be okay until this whole thing was forgotten; he hung up the phone and then tried dialing Tristan's number. He tried several times, but every time he'd get the answering machine. Joey eventually gave up and just decided to call it a night.

He lay in bed, restlessly trying to fall asleep for hours until he heard Seto come in. He remained still, pretending to be asleep while Seto got dressed in his pajamas and slipped into the bed next to Joey. Joey was surprise when he felt Seto take his hand and he opened his eyes to see Seto staring at him, his normally harsh blue eyes soft and… strangely compassionate.

"It'll be fine, mutt," Seto stated simply. That was it, nothing more.

Joey didn't say anything but scooted closer to Kaiba, resting his head against his shoulder as he once more felt tears threatening to break loose. Joey was dreading going to school. He was a target to a decent enough portion of the student body, the press would continue to harass him, and his best friend now hated his guts. He wasn't going to run away from it though. He'd pull through it, just like everything else in his life. As he felt Seto's finger's run themselves through his thick blond hair, he felt his nerves calm, and he was able to fall asleep.


	15. Old Friends, New Alliances

**Chapter Fifteen: Old Friends, New Alliances  
><strong>

_Song for chapter:_

_Kelly Clarkson- On the tip of my tongue_

The next couple weeks were like hell for Joey and the Kaiba family. Joey spent his days at school being pranked as well as a few threats by the same kids day after day. They continued to throw things at him during class, mostly school supplies like erasers, pencils, paper clips, and rubber bands… one day a few of them got creative and tried to egg him during lunchtime, but this result in Joey dodging or deflecting most of them before beating the stuffing out of the guys who threw them. This resulted in him receiving detention for the week. Every day his locker would get covered in sticky notes with ridicules and even more threats. Most made fun of his sexuality, but some, he guessed were from girls, ridiculed him about not being good enough for Seto Kaiba and that he should give him up.

There was one party of girls who were vocally in support of Joey and Seto's relationship who baked him a tray of brownies one day, the next made him a card with a tin of cookies. These acts… somewhat cheered Joey up, but it was a pinch of sugar in an ocean of salt. Even some of the teachers were against him, punishing him for the stupidest things like arriving to class thirty seconds late and giving him terrible marks on his assignments. He didn't tell Seto about any of this of course. He had enough to deal with at work. Speaking of which, work was somewhat of a reprieve. The paparazzi wasn't allowed within the boundaries of Kaiba Land, on Seto's order, and so long as Joey was wearing a costume that hid his face, parents wouldn't forbid their children to get near him. Kit was completely supportive of Joey and Seto, which she constantly reminded Joey of every chance she got.

Things wouldn't have been so terrible if Tristan wasn't constantly giving him the cold shoulder. Tristan refused to speak to him at school, he never answered Joey's phone calls or text messages, and whenever he saw Joey having a hard time, he turned a blind eye. Joey couldn't blame him for being angry, but why couldn't he at least try to understand Joey's viewpoint? Why wouldn't he at least listen to what Joey had to say? Yugi, Tea, and Ryou helped him out as best they could. Marik came to visit him sometimes during lunch hours to give his support, as well as to visit Bakura on the side.

It wasn't long before Joey began to feel trapped. He could scarcely go anywhere outside of the Kaiba mansion or school without either being attacked by the press, or by some thugs who wanted to beat his face in. In fact, some days Joey was coming home with bruised knuckles and ruined clothes. He did his best to hide all this from Seto, pleading with Roland not to say anything to the CEO. Even though his friends kept telling him things would blow over, things just seemed to get worse with each passing day.

The weirdest thing about all of this was a particular incident that happened during the second week of this hellish nightmare.

Joey was getting his things from his locker when he was approached by a group of guys looking for trouble. "Isn't it a bit early for this?" Joey asked tiredly, facing the guys without any signs of intimidation.

"Oh, look at the homo being all tough," the… I guess leader stated as he stepped up so that he and Joey were almost chest to chest staring at one another.

Joey held his ground, not wanting to throw the first punch but preparing himself for a counter attack if one was thrown by his opponent. He watched as the guy's eyes drifted down a little bit and was surprised when, rather than throwing a punch or kick as he expected, the guy grabbed Joey's necklace and snapped it off, breaking the chain in the process. "What the hell is this?" the guy asked with a laugh as he looked at it.

This made Joey very enraged. "Give it back, you bastard!" Joey shouted and tried to lunge for it but the other guys shoved him back while the guy with the necklace took off.

From around the corner, a pair of jade eyes was watching the spectacle, and they watched as the guy came running in his direction. Duke casually got into position, and as the guy rounded the corner, he very elegantly stuck out his foot sending the guy flying and eating the tile floor. Duke strode over to the fallen student who was so dazed from his landing Duke was easily able to steal the piece of jewelry from the guy's hand. By this time Joey had caught up, and boy was he surprised by what he saw.

"Duke, whaddya think you're doing?" Joey demanded, immediately on the defensive.

Duke smiled before strolling over to the blond and held the necklace out by dangling it between his index and middle finger.

Joey warily reached out and grabbed it by the tag, retrieving it from the dice master. "You should take better care of your treasures, puppy," Duke said before walking past him. As Duke continued down the hallway he saw the group of thugs from moments ago, curled up on the floor, bruises, starting to form, and blood dripping out of their noses and mouths. _"God, he's violent." _Duke thought walking past the punks, _"I wonder if he is that aggressive in bed?"_

Joey looked at Duke in disbelief as he walked away from the bizarre act, _"What was that? Did Duke really just do that for me?"_ Joey thought wondering why Duke would do that for him, after all that happened between the two. Duke and Joey were not exactly what one could call friends, and after what happened between them he was surprised how Duke was treating him.

"Morning Joey." Yugi piped up walking into the shoe locker area. "Did your necklace break?" Yugi saw the white gold dog tag in Joey's hand.

"Ya, the clasp broke." Joey said smiling nervously. Seto would not be pleased knowing the birthday present he bought Joey broke so easily. Also, Joey didn't know how to explain how it broke in the first place.

"Did Kaiba get you the necklace?" Yugi asked, "I mean it did mysteriously arrive at your birthday, and it doesn't look cheap."

Joey was surprised how observant his friend was being right now, "Ya it was Kaiba." Joey answered truthfully. "Well Yug let's get going to class." Joey suggested wanting to head to the classroom before any other trouble would break out in the area.

* * *

><p>"Rough day at the office?" Joey asked as Seto sat immediately down on their bed, his face buried in his hands. There was no response from the CEO, but Joey could feel the vicious aura he was giving off. "Wanna talk 'bout it?" Joey offered. He could easily tell what the real problem was. The press. They were still as persistent as ever. Wanting to know if the young billionaire was really gay, or if this was just all an act, hoping to raise his image, like his step father did, showing his support for gay rights. Even though Seto constantly said he would not let it bother him, and they would go about like nothing was happening, there were small subtle changes that Joey, Mokuba, and Roland could all easily tell, he was being affected.<p>

"Everything is fine Wheeler. I'm going to bed early tonight." Joey just nodded his head, and left the bed room to leave the CEO to his sleep.

_"Everything is not fine Kaiba…"_Joey thought as he closed the door behind sighed and headed back to his own room. He pulled out his deck, and began shuffling through his cards. He saw his time wizard, and the most unusual flashback popped in his head…

_"By reading your deck, I can read your soul's past, present, and future...And now for your future…Time Wizard…Only time will tell."_

"Why was I thinking of that. Only time will tell…" Joey said as he placed his cards on the night stand. "Why couldn't that stupid card reading see this?" Joey thought, as his slid his deck back into his pocket. He got up from the bed, and left the room leaving Seto to his much needed sleep.

Seto turned the lights off in his room, trying to fall asleep, but as Joey, too many things were on his mind. Too many questions. _"Why is this getting to me so much. Who cares what the press thinks. I'm Seto Kaiba…" _were the only words that reeled through his mind as he slowly drifted off into a restless sleep.

* * *

><p>School was over, and Tristan once again left the classroom before Joey could try talking to him. He headed down the hall a few classrooms over to Duke's class, "Hey Duke wanna hang out today?"<p>

Duke was still at his desk packing his bag as a few girls lingered near the striking teenager, getting their last glances of him before he left for the day. "Ya sure man, what did you have in mind?"

"Just thought we could hang out at my place, maybe watch a movie or something?" Tristan suggested, not sure what the two would do either.

"Sure," Duke said waving to his fan club good bye before joining the less popular teenager. The two walked in silence for the most part to Tristan's house. Duke and Tristan had been hanging out so much more since the Joey incident, that the two were running out of things to talk about. After getting to Tristan's house they went straight up to his room and started to pick a movie. They decided on Casablanca.

"Tristan, can I ask you something?" Duke asked finally breaking the silence in between the two of them about half way through the movie.

"Ya man what is it?" Tristan questioned turning his head to face the teenager next to him.

"Have you been spending more time with me to avoid Joey?" Duke stated, not wanting to beat around the bush. He wanted to know the truth of what Tristan was thinking. They were friends now, but Tristan and Joey were best friends and he wanted to understand what could make Tristian act like this.

"Come on man, where did you get a crazy idea like that?" Tristan laughed, but stopped when he saw the serious look in Duke's eyes.

"Tristan, since the announcement of Seto and Joey's relationship, you have been avoiding him. I heard about the scene you made in class from the girls." Duke paused for a few moments to take a deep breath, "And since then, we have been hanging out almost every day together. Don't get me wrong man, I like hanging out with you."Duke assured Tristan, not wanting to offend him, "But since you found out about Joey's secret you have been asking like a jealous girlfriend."

"I am not jealous Duke," Tristan said defensively.

"Then what's the problem?" Duke asked, trying to get down to the source of this friends anger. "Don't tell me you're homophobic." Duke had yet to tell Tristan that he was bi, and he didn't want something like that to ruin their newfound friendship.

"I'm not homophobic." Tristan almost shouted, "I don't care if Joey is gay." Tristan said with a sigh, "Ya it would have been nice to have him tell me that he was gay, but I understand why he kept it hidden. I mean, most people don't look happily upon gays. As proof from the kids and even some teacher at school."

"So I ask, what's the problem?" Duke asked incredulously. "If you are fine with Joey being gay then why are you so mad at him?"

"It's the fact that it's Kaiba he's with." Tristan sighed, looking down at the floor now. "I would have been fine if it was anyone, but why did it have to be Kaiba?"

Duke laughed a bit, "You really do sound like a jealous girlfriend. But what's the big deal about him liking Kaiba? I mean, I know whenever we saw them duel against each other; this is the last thing that we would expect to ever happen. But Joey is your friend, don't you trust him?"

Tristan glared at Duke from the girlfriend comment again, "That's the thing. Joey always hated Kaiba. How did they fall for each other? I mean, this could be prostitution, blackmail, a sex slave for all we know!"

Duke actually laughed at this. "I seriously doubt any of those are valid theories, Tristan."

"How can you be so sure?" Tristan asked skeptically.

"Call it intuition," Duke said tapping his head with a smile. "But seriously, Joey's too prideful to prostitute himself, and Kaiba's a lot of things, but I doubt he'd stoop to blackmailing someone, let alone Joey."

Tristan grabbed his head with a groan. "I just wish I could make sense of this."

"You could, if you just asked Joey himself," Duke said nudging him with his elbow. "You're his best friend, he needs you right now. This is probably the toughest time he's ever had, and having his best friend ignore him probably isn't helping him any."

Upon saying this, Tristan's sister suddenly burst into the room. "I agree with this extremely pretty man here," she declared before looking at Duke. "May I stroke your hair?"

"Why, of course," Duke said, never being one to deny himself attention.

"Sis, were you spying on us?" Tristan asked, sounding a little indignant.

"I was just passing by and happened to hear you shouting, so I came to see what was up," she stated in her defense. "Besides, you're not interesting enough to spy on."

"Get out," Tristan snapped at her.

"Geez, fine," she said with a roll of her eyes. She gave Duke one last wave before leaving the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

"Has anyone ever told you you're an attention whore?" Tristan asked a smug-looking Duke.

"I can't help it that I'm a sex idol," Duke said with a shrug. "It's not easy being this good looking."

Tristan couldn't even bring himself to respond to this statement.

* * *

><p>"Ya can let me out here," Joey told Roland as they were approaching his high school.<p>

"Yes, Mr. Wheeler," Roland said pulling off to the side of the road to let Joey off.

"Ya know, Roland, it sounds weird when ya call me Mr," Joey said as he got out of the car. "Can't ya just call me Joey?"

"As you wish Mr. Joey," Roland stated with a nod.

Joey sighed. "Right, see ya later." He waved good bye to Roland and began the two block walk to school. Seto had insisted Joey be driven to school until the gossip died down, but Joey didn't want to show up every day in Kaiba's limo, thus making his situation at school worse, so he compromised with Roland to let him off a short walking distance from school.

When he got to the school gates, he found someone waiting for him. Someone he was both stunned and dreaded to see. It was Hirutani and his usual gang of thugs. It had been a while since Joey had last seen the guy, and he'd thought it had been the last time he ever would.

"Long time no see, Joey," Hirutani greeted. It was anything but friendly, even though the guy was smiling.

Joey didn't say a word to the gang, and tried to get past them and just go on with his day. Normally, something like that would set off Joey in an instant, but if there was at least one things Joey learned from living with Seto it was how to be patient. Also Joey was at school, and he didn't want to be caught in a _serious_ fight at school. He worked hard to get to where he was today; he is a top student, a high ranking duelist, and actually going places now. The last thing Joey wanted was to revert back to his former ways, go back to who he was in junior high.

"What's the matter Joey?" Hirutani pressed on, "Too high and mighty now to say hi to your old friends?" The thugs blocked the entrance to Joey's school so he could no longer ignore them.

"What do you want Hirutani?" Joey finally asked trying to keep his cool. He knew what they were capable of, but also knew, that they would have never been able to get away with half of the stuff they did without his and Tristan's help.

"Well, when I saw you on the cover of over half of the magazines in town, I became curious to see what you were up too." He started and his flunkies began to start laughing, "You were such a bad ass back in junior high, and now you are living the cushy perfect life." A few of the gang members yo yo's were out and they were flicking them up and down. "Then I began to wonder how a fag like you was ever in my gang to begin with." Hirutani gut punched Joey while he said that distasteful word. "The other gangs you see are giving me shit about that." A few of the cronies shot their yo yos at Joey's head and body now, as Hirutani continued punching Joey.

Joey was able to block a few of the punches, all those years ago, Hirutani was nothing without him, so Joey knew he could take him on, but first he would have to take out the pathetic minions.

* * *

><p>Tristan was walking to school, it had been a few days since his talk with Duke, and he still had yet to talk to Joey. He was not sure what to do, should he confront Joey or not? Even his sister was getting on his case about it, defending Joey to the end. <em>"What's going on at the gate?"<em> Tristan wondered not being able to make out the people from the distance he was at, _"Those kids don't go to our school. That I can tell."_ After a few more steps, Tristan almost stopped dead in his tracks, _"Hirutani…"_ Tristan soon realized what was happening. He saw Joey trying to fight off the entire Hirutani gang himself. Some of the flunkies had knives, others yo yo's, a few and Hirutani himself, just using their bare fists. Without thinking, Tristan dropped his bag, running over to the fight, and hitting one of the cronies square in the jaw. The brawl only lasted for what felt like a few moments until a teacher finally came out.

"What's going on here?" A male teacher's voice boomed, causing the bloody brawl to come to an end. "Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Taylor, come with me." Joey looked around and saw Tristan standing there next to him.

"What are you doing man?" Joey whispered under his breath as the teacher tried to get the gangs names to call their school about what happened.

"What are friends for man?" was all Tristan said back to his friend.

"Um Sir," Joey said to the teacher as the gang left the school, "Tristan here as nothing to do with the fight, he was just trying to stop me, so please don't punish him. Punish only me."

The teacher looked at Joey square in the eyes, "Fine, Mr. Taylor you are off. Mr. Wheeler come with me then." The teacher said leading Joey into the school straight into to the principal's office to have a punishment to be passed on Joey.

The principal was a man well in his years, with a balding head surrounded by wispy gray hair. When Joey was brought before him by the teacher, he didn't need an explanation; he could already guess the reason for the young teen being there. After sending the teacher away, he asked Joey to have a seat.

"Mr. Wheeler, I can't help but notice that you have been getting into more fights recently," the principal began in his throaty voice. "I realize this has something to do with your current… situation."

Joey didn't say anything. There really wasn't anything to say. He didn't feel like defending himself for anything he did.

"I understand that you are not to blame for these disturbances, however, something like this cannot be overlooked," the principal continued. "Which is why I think it would be best if you… took a leave from school for a while."

This declaration startled Joey into speaking. "You mean you're gonna expel me?" he asked in a panic.

"Not expel," the principal said calmingly. "Merely give you a leave of absence until things have calmed down. Which I'm sure they will before long. You can have one of your friends bring your homework assignments if you so desire. I will explain to your teachers your situation and I'm sure they'll understand."

Joey bowed his head. Why did this have to happen to him now? What had he done to deserve any of this? "How long?" Joey asked the principal.

"Let's try waiting it out a week, and we'll go from there," the principal told him.

Joey sighed. "Alright, I get it."

"I'll of course need to notify your parents," the principal reminded.

"Good luck with that," Joey said before getting up from the chair. "And thanks… I guess." With that he left the office, all the while trying to figure out how he was supposed to explain all of this to the man he was living with.

* * *

><p>"Alright, I think that's everything."<p>

Joey stared at his duffel bag stuffed full of clothes, his duel monster cards, and everything else he had brought with him when he came to live with Seto. Once he believed he had everything, he zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. He took one last glance around the room before walking out, shutting the door behind him. He traveled downstairs to the front door, hoping to be able to leave without anyone ever realizing. He did have the whole day off of school after all, and the rest of that week for that matter...and no one else should be home for a few hours. Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on Mokuba being home so early from school.

"Joey, where are you going?" Mokuba asked seeing him with the duffel bag and looking confused.

"I'm leaving, Mokuba," Joey told him. He wasn't going to beat around the bush with the kid.

"But why?" Mokuba asked, eyes widening with hurt. "You and Seto didn't get into a fight, did you?"

"Come on, when are we NOT bickering?" Joey said with a weak laugh. "But it's not because of that."

"Look, Joey, if it's about the news media, you don't have to worry about that," Mokuba started, but Joey cut him off.

"Relax, kiddo, I'm not gonna be gone forever," Joey said. At least… he didn't believe he would. He was still deciding on that. "I just need some time to get away from all this. I need a break, and hiding out here, no matter how nice it is, isn't doing anything for me."

Well, that was partially true. The other part was that he didn't want to inconvenience anyone with all of this. That included his family and friends. Plus, maybe if Joey and Seto stopped living together, the media might lay off the young president. The more selfish reason was that Joey couldn't do it anymore; he didn't want to continue hiding behind Seto. He wasn't breaking up with the guy, but Joey needed a break, and thought maybe it would be the best for both of them if they were separated for a while. Only problem, he hadn't told Seto about his ingenious plan during the walk back from school to the mansion, the time when he came up with this plan.

Joey knew that if he told Seto that he would stop him, so escape was the only think he could do. "But where will you go Joey?" Mokuba asked now looking down at the floor trying to hold back his depression from the blond.

Joey placed his hands on Mokuba's shoulders, "I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out. I am Joey Wheeler after all." He gave Mokuba a bright smile hoping to cheer him up before walking out the door. There were no paparazzi outside the door yet but Joey knew they were going to come sooner or later. After all they were camped out outside of Kaiba Corp and Kaiba Land in the morning, so they were bound to come back to the mansion at one point. As he turned the corner down the street, he began to see a few people with camera's in hand as if they were expecting Joey to go down that way. As soon as they noticed Joey, he began to dash through the side streets and alleys trying to outrun them. They were persistent snapping shots and making recordings of him as he ran through the maze of buildings.

"Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler." He heard a few voices shout after him, but he kept running without looking back.

He finally thought he lost them, and took a few seconds to catch his breath, _"Where to go Joey. You can't go to your friends' house, that would be too obvious. I have the money for a hotel, but it would be easy for me to be tracked there too."_

"Hop in, Wheeler."

Joey looked up and turned his head towards the street, seeing none other than Duke Devlin in his car.

* * *

><p>KD: Wow, things are defiantly getting interesting now. But how will Joey leaving effect Seto...or Duke for that matter...only time will tell. So tune in next time. And thanks to those few of you who support us with your reviews, messages, and just favoring or alerting our story. It's acts like that, that give us inspiration and pushes us forward even more so every chapter we write...<p> 


	16. Old Spice

**Chapter Sixteen: Old Spice  
><strong>

_Song for chapter:_

_Hoobastank- Running Away_

Joey could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Duke Devlin was there in his car offering him a ticket out of the mess he was in. Trouble was, with Duke, nothing ever came free, and Joey had very little reason to place his faith in him.

"Why should I trust ya Devlin?" Joey asked, thinking back on what Duke did to him long ago. He knew he couldn't trust Duke, but the offer was fairly tempting; Duke's place was the last one anyone would expect.

"Think Wheeler. Where else do you have to go? You can't go to your friend's houses and I know you don't have the money to be able to stay in a hotel long. Just get in."

With a deep sigh and a desperate desire to escape the paparazzi hot on his trail, Joey begrudgingly got into Duke's car, slamming the door shut. The car ride was silent for the most part; Duke had his R&B music playing loudly which made it hard for casual conversation to even start. The only good part was it gave Joey some time to clear his mind, even though the music made it hard for him to concentrate.

Duke eyed Joey every once in awhile, on the drive to his place. He knew he had not been the most appropriate person around Joey, but he really did want to help. Joey didn't deserve what was happening to him and Duke felt that at the present time he was the only person that could somewhat help him. However, he had to be careful. He was still rather attracted to Joey. He did love a challenge after all. However, even he understood how fragile Joey's mental state was at the moment, and didn't want to make things worse for him.

Finally the two pulled up to Duke's place. It was a fairly big house, not as big as Seto's, but still large enough to show off his recently gained wealth from Dungeons and Dice Monsters. The moment they were inside, Joey could more distinctly than ever see a vast difference between Duke and Seto's tastes. Just the living room alone was decorated with a bunch of furnishings that you really didn't need but at the same time were fun to have. Beanbag chairs, spinning chairs, weird lamps, an entertainment system, and almost everything was red, black, or dark forest green.

"The guest bedroom is straight at the end of the hall, the bathroom is to the right just before you get there," Duke explained, pointing. "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen, but just know that you have to replace anything you eat. All I ask is while you're here is don't break anything, got it?"

"Yeah, sure," Joey said going straight to the indicated bedroom. The room wasn't nearly as insanely decorated as the front room, but the red and black theme was consistent. Joey didn't mind though. Red was one of his favorite colors. He was just so used to seeing blue most of the time. Joey opened the drawer of one of the large dressers, unzipped his duffle bag and dumped everything it before shutting it –after some stuffing- closed.

Joey sat down on the large queen sized bed afterwards and wondered what he was going to do. Was he really intending to stay with Duke for who knew how long? No… he'd try to find someplace else. This was just temporary. It was amazing what desperation drove him to do. Desperation started this whole damn thing.

"Hey, Joey," Duke said strolling into the room, because he owned it. "I ordered pizza for dinner tonight. That okay?"

"Uh… yeah, sounds good," Joey said, a little taken aback by Duke's show of consideration.

* * *

><p>Seto finally got home after a long day at work, he noticed Mokuba sitting in the living room alone, but was too annoyed to think anything of it. Besides it was almost one in the morning, and Mokuba usually stayed up until Seto got home just to make sure he was okay. Mokuba could feel the tension from Seto in the living room and decided to give him some space.<p>

_"Joey didn't ask me to keep his runaway a secret," _he thought guiltily,_ "but at the same time it's not my place to say that he did."_

Seto walked up the stairs and entered his room; he was used to not turning on the lights when he entered the room, since he and Joey usually shared the bed together, especially when Seto was out late. However, when Kaiba looked towards the bed he didn't see his snoring puppy who constantly talks in his sleep.

"Guess he is sleeping in his room tonight."

Seto threw his coat over the chair, too tired to leave his room to check up on his boyfriend. He finally laid in his bed, it had been awhile since they slept together, but he could still smell the scent of Old Spice in the sheets and pillow next to him.

* * *

><p>Joey heard his phone going off, and looked over to it, seeing it was from Malik. <em>"What does he want?"<em> he thought opening the phone seeing what the energetic Egyptian would want.

_Hey! Just wanted to check up on you to make sure you are ok. I have been watching the stuff on TV. If you need a place to stay you can always come to mine and Bakura's place. ^_^_

Joey looked at the text for a few moments wondering what to say back to him. He could stay and Malik's and Bakura's place, but knew that Bakura would not be too happy with it. Malik always did things without Bakura's consent, and he really didn't want to be a reason for them to be in one of their daily arguments.

Joey looked up from the phone when he heard the door to his room open.

"The pizza is here if you want some." Duke said with a slice in hand.

"Oh ya…Thanks." Joey said looking away from the text and closed the phone. He really was not in the mood to talk to Malik at the moment. After all he had only been a 'runaway' for a few hours and knew that Malik would be overdramatic about the current situation.

Joey followed Duke out of the room and into the kitchen which was already filled with the aroma of pizza. On the table was an open box with a supreme pizza inside and another unopened box resting just beneath it.

"I wasn't sure what kind of pizza you liked so I just got one supreme and one cheese," Duke explained.

"Any kind of pizza is fine, really, except for olives, but I can just pick those off," Joey said, grabbing the largest piece and began remove that disgusting, black, poor excuses for food.

"So, were you still planning on going to school and work?" Duke asked casually. When Joey guiltily paused, clearly showing that he hadn't thought that far ahead, the dice master groaned. "You're kidding me, right? You run away but you didn't even have a plan?"

"I'm working on it," Joey said defensively, biting into his now olive free pizza.

Duke shook his head. "I suppose I couldn't blame you for not going back to school." He had been watching Joey, and he saw the crap he'd been dealing with coming from both the students and the teachers. Duke didn't know what he would do if he was in Joey's situation. He thrived on attention and adoration. "Well, it's none of my business what you do, I guess."

Joey glanced over at Duke who had a complex expression on his face. He was grateful that Duke helped him out, especially after what happened, but he couldn't help but question the dice boy's motivations. "I'll figure something out. And I don't plan on staying for free either, so how much do ya want for me staying here?"

"I have all the money I need," Duke stated with a smile reaching over and trailing a finger up Joey's neck, coming out beneath his chin. "But you could always pay me back with your body."

Joey turned red and back away to the other side of the room in two strides. "Ya gotta be kidding me!"

Duke laughed a little. "Relax, Joey. I was only yanking your chain… so to speak. I really don't care how long you stay, and I don't need reimbursement."

"I don't like feeling like I owe people somethin'," Joey said seriously, "I'll pay ya back one way or another."

Joey continued eating the pizza and the conversation quickly ended once again. After several more slices, Joey ate his fill for dinner, and headed back to the room. He noticed his phone had a few more texts while he was gone, all from a worried Malik, asking if he was still alive since he had not heard back from him. One however was from Mokuba,

_Looks like you are off the hook tonight, Seto won't be home till late, so he won't notice you're gone. Please be careful and come back soon._

Joey closed the phone and turned it off, he really didn't want to deal with people right now, he needed to think up a plan, what to do next.

_"School has been rough the past few days, but it's nothing I can't handle. Work on the other hand is a different story. I really don't want to abandon Kit though. Also this is just one job, I could always find another. But no one wanted to hire me in the first place." _

All night Joey bounced around different scenarios in his head on what to do and decided that he would still go to school after his one week free of absence, since Seto never showed up half of the time. He remembered he still had two weeks of sick leave at work and decided to take advantage of that. Joey eventually fell asleep at around two in the morning. The bed was comfy, but didn't feel quite as warm as Seto's.

* * *

><p>Seto woke up a few moments before his alarm as usual, waking up still thinking that Joey was in the bed next to him.<p>

_"That's right Wheeler slept in his room last night."_

Seto got ready for work and headed down the stairs to get his morning coffee, where Roland and Mokuba were waiting downstairs for the CEO eating breakfast.

"Morning, Seto," Mokuba said between bites of his cereal.

Seto just grunted as he poured his coffee. Mokuba was confused at how calm Seto was being this morning; he thought for sure hell would freeze over when Seto discovered Joey was gone, but he didn't appear that upset. Mokuba still thought it would be best to not bring up the subject just yet, in case Seto was just putting on his usual stoic front.

The press was still trying to get the scoop from Seto about his relationship with Joey, but they started keeping their distance from Kaiba Corp and Kaiba Land, from the threats of suing. Other than that, work went smoothly, for once. A few more employees put in their resignation, but other than that it was a good day for Seto. Since the information leaked, he didn't lose any of his major clients, just a few employees now and again.

_"Maybe I should go home early today,"_ Seto thought as he once again was looking over his program. _"It will give me a chance to see how Mokuba and Joey are doing."_ After a call to Roland, Seto and Roland began the drive home.

"Mr. Kaiba, it's unusual to see you head home this early." Roland questioned looking at his boss in the rear view mirror. "Is something the matter?"

"I just want to check up on Mokuba and Wheeler. Especially, Wheeler. He has been acting different since the newscast," Seto said being his usual observant self.

"Of course, sir," Roland commented, but inside he knew the truth. That morning Mokuba explained to Roland what happened, and the last thing he wanted was to impart more bad news unto his employer.

Seto got home, and headed straight to the living room. Joey and Mokuba were nowhere to be seen, _"Mokuba should be home from school now, but where is Wheeler?"_

"Seto what are you doing home early?" Mokuba said as he walked through the door, shocked to see his brother standing there.

"I wanted to check up on you again to make sure that things were going well," Seto said back to his little brother.

"I'm fine, Seto," Mokuba said hesitantly. "I told you that I would tell if anything was wrong. Is there something else bothering you big brother?"

"It's nothing, Mokuba, you just do your homework," Seto said heading up to his room.

As he passed Joey's door, he wondered if Joey was napping like a little puppy in his room. Seto opened the door to Joey's room only to see it empty. In that moment, Seto had a feeling that he never felt before. His heart just dropped. His eyes began to dilate as he realized what happened.

"That mutt ran away from home."

He stepped further into the room and opened the drawers, just to see even further that everything was gone. Seto did however find two things in the closet, a book on the top shelf of Joey's closet, as he picked up the book, the cover started to fall off and Seto saw the title 365 Days of Sex (and an unopened package of Sex Dice on top of it). Other than that, nothing was left in the barren room. Not even Joey's familiar scent lingered in there anymore.

"Hey, Seto…" Mokuba started, but soon saw the room that used to belong to Joey's wide open his entire thought was gone. He saw the look of outrage on his brother's face, but at the same time melancholy cobalt eyes. "Se…"

Before Mokuba could say anything to his older brother, he stormed out of the room. _"I'll find that mutt and drag him back by the collar if I have to,"_ Seto thought as he briskly continued down the hallway, only thoughts of how to get his puppy back filled his mind.

Mokuba stood in the empty room alone now, and quickly pulled out his cell phone. "Roland, we have a problem. Seto just found out."

Seto burst through the door of his attic room where several computers and machines were set up. Many of these, in fact probably all, had much more advanced software than your average military computer software. He sat down at one of the desktop and began booting it up. His mind was currently on a one track setting. Find the puppy, bring him back home, and he knew exactly how to do it.

Thankfully he had a little brother to talk some sense into him… maybe. "Seto, what do you think you're doing?" Mokuba asked entering the room, having followed his brother all the way up there.

"I'm going to find that ungrateful mutt and bring him back here," Seto replied more harshly than was intended.

"Seto, you can't!" Mokuba said running up to his brother's side. "Look, I talked to Joey before he left and…"

"You knew!" Seto snapped. "And you kept it from me?"

"I-I'm sorry," Mokuba said looking really hurt but he straightened up, maintaining the firmness needed to speak to his brother. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd overreact. But Joey says he isn't planning on being gone forever," he spoke quickly in order to keep his brother from cutting him off. "He just needs time away from all of this, that's all."

"Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Mokuba is right," Roland interjected having just arrived. "Mr. Wheeler isn't accustomed to handling this sort of scandal. Perhaps he felt that by making himself scarce, things would quiet down faster for the both of you."

"Do you honestly think I care about any of that?" Seto was on the verge of shouting.

"You might not, sir, but clearly Mr. Wheeler does," Roland stated gravely.

"Seto, if you drag Joey back here by force, you'll only end up making things worse," Mokuba included, hoping that his brother would see reason. "Just give him some time. He'll come back. I know he will."

Seto looked as though he was having an inner battle with himself. Both Mokuba and Roland could see that he was more than half considering just ignoring their input and doing what he wanted. At last he said, "I'll give him a week. But if he's not back by then I'm doing things my way."

Mokuba and Roland both sighed inwardly, thankful they had bought the blonde teen some time. However, at the same time they knew that it would be a week from hell. Even though Seto wasn't showing it the way most normal people would, he was deeply hurt by the sudden and unannounced disappearance of his puppy.

"Come on, bro," Mokuba said tugging at his brother's arm. "Let's go watch some TV. It's been awhile since we done that. There's a marathon of House on."

Seto really wasn't in the mood to watch television, even if it was his favorite series. He couldn't even see himself doing work right now and manage to get anything productive done. At his little brother's insistence, however, he rose from the chair and allowed himself to be led to the living room area by Mokuba with Roland trailing behind.

"What channel was it on again?" Mokauba said channel surfing trying to find the right channel, but stopped after they saw a news caster interrupt on the shows that was on.

"Breaking news! Finally a Kaiba Corp employee speaks up about the relationship between her boss, and surprisingly enough, fellow co worker, Joey Wheeler…"

Mokuba tried to change the channel, but Seto stole the remote from his younger brother, to see which employee he got to fire first.

* * *

><p>Joey was not sure what to do with himself since he was not supposed to go to school for an entire week, and he already took a sick leave from work. So he resorted to the last thing he could imagine, watching daytime tv. It's not like he could play Duel Monsters against himself, and he sure was not going out in public.<p>

"Hey, Joey," Duke shouted as he walked into the house finally back from school. "What are you doin?"

"Watching tv," Joey shouted back.

He still had yet to forgive or fully trust the dice lover, but he figured while he was in his house, he might as well be as polite as possible. Duke came into the room only to see Joey channel surfing quickly through all the channels. That was until Joey stopped on a news channel. Duke saw a recognizable female on the tv; the one he gave the cell phone to.

"KIT!" Joey's jaw dropped as he saw the news caster hold the microphone in front of the young females face.

"I'm Kit a Kaiba Land employee," she said with her usual chipper smile, "and I am speaking only to show my support for Mr. Kaiba and Joey."

"So you support this inner work relationship?" the newscaster almost seemed shocked by this.

"Mr. Kaiba is the kindest, most hard working boss I have ever had and it's an honor and privilege to work for him. And Joey is the best co worker I could have ever asked for, always a joy to be around and a heart on his sleeve type of guy. I totally support their relationship and I think all you people should just leave them alone." The newscaster was not sure how to react to this young girl, this was not the talk that they had originally agreed to have, but the cameraman kept filming. "Why does it matter that they are both guys? Love has no gender. Thank you for listening, and I hope all paparazzi and news reporters just leave them alone. You wouldn't care if Mr. Kaiba was dating a female, so why should a male make any difference? Thank you." Kit was soon walking off screen and the stunned news reporter was yet to say anything.

"Kit…" Joey said knowing the consequences she would be suffering from this outburst. Kaiba said anyone, and he meant anyone, who spoke to the press would be fired. Though Kit had good intentions, none of that would matter to the stubborn CEO.

* * *

><p>Seto turned off the tv and looked to Roland. "Please, Seto, don't fire Kit," Mokuba said knowing what his brother was going to ask the older man to do for him. "She just stood up for you and Joey, knowing what could happen to her, well maybe not that last part, but still."<p>

"Roland, please fire Ms. Ivanov," Seto said with no remorse for his brother's plea.

"But, sir…" Roland tried to interject but was cut off by Seto.

"Then escort her home."

Mokuba's eyes lit up a bit knowing that his brother still did care.

"Of course, Sir." Roland said getting up and heading to Kaiba Land.

"Mokuba, you know I can't pull back on my word about firing employees that talk to the press. All my credibility as a CEO would be lost if I did."

"I know, Seto," Mokuba sighed. "But Kit did what others were afraid to do, and I think that should count for something."

"Hn," Seto said before rising up from the couch. "I need to get some work done." He left the room and Mokuba watched him go with a sad face.

"Joey, please come back soon," Mokuba thought.

* * *

><p>KD: Damn! So much going on. Poor Seto is upset, Joey is confused, and Duke... who knows what his plans are. Just how much more strain can their relationship endure?<p>

Once again thank you for your patience. Since we don't live together anymore and have jobs its been harder to get chapters out in a hurry, so please bear with us.


	17. No Regrets

**Chapter Seventeen: No Regrets  
><strong>

_Song for chapter:_

Roland was waiting outside the entrance of Kaiba Land. The paparazzi had cleared out for the most part after getting their fill of the theme park guest commentary. What reporters wouldn't do for a story. Still… what was that girl thinking going against the Kaiba Corp. CEO's explicit orders? Roland understood that she had good intentions, but there were so many risks involved, especially to her personally, which was why he was now here. He spotted the female saying goodbye to the ticket seller as she exited the park and Roland approached her.

"Miss Ivanov," Roland addressed her courteously. "My name is Roland. I've been sent by Mr. Kaiba."

"Oh," Kit said in surprise, then her face saddened a little. "Am I fired?"

Roland nodded soberly. "I'm afraid so, miss."

Kit puckered her lips in disappointment but only seconds later her smile was back on. "Oh well, live with no regrets I say, and I regret nothing!" She pumped a fist in the air. "I said what needed to be said. Joey and Mr. Kaiba don't deserve to be gossiped about so horribly and should be allowed to live out their beautiful love in peace!"

"Well, Miss Ivanov, not everyone can be as open as you. Now if you please, Mr. Kaiba instructed me to drive you home to make sure you get there safely." Roland pointed the way towards the limo and Kit followed.

He was about to open the back door for her, but before he was given the chance, Kit opened the passenger seat door and quickly buckled up. Confused Roland just went along with it to the driver's seat. "Miss. Ivanov…"

"You can call me Kit." She quickly said with a wide grin.

"Miss Kit, you don't have to sit in the front with me." He said back after starting the car and beginning to drive.

"But if I sat back there, I wouldn't be able to talk to you." Roland thought that he felt his face blush at that comment, but quickly let the idea go. "Also, just call me Kit. No Miss needed."

"Alright, if you say so…Kit…By the way which way to your house?" Roland asked realizing that he didn't know where he was heading.

"Do you mind if we stop for dinner first?" she asked as her tummy loudly grumbled, "I have not had dinner yet."

"Mr. Kaiba gave me strict orders to take you home…" Roland started, but was soon interrupted by the energetic girl.

"Come on, Roland, We don't have to go anywhere fancy. Just Burger Land. I'll even treat!" she said giving him a cheesy thumbs up. "I won't tell Mr. Kaiba about this venture if you don't." she added laughing, imagining this man trying to eat a burger.

"Well, eating is important," Roland thought while waiting for the light to turn green. "As long as we are not there too long." If Mr. Kaiba did hear about this detour, he would not be amused with Roland's actions, but Roland couldn't let this girl starve when her stomach would not stop making noises.

Roland parked the limo and Kat threw the door open and jumped out before he could get around to opening the door for her. He followed her to the door and the two went inside. When the waitress approached them she paused to stare at them before saying, "Table for two?"

"Yes, please," Kit replied with a big nod. The waitress showed the two to their table, gave them their menus, and told them about their current deal of buy two appetizers and get a desert free. Before leaving she took their drink orders. Kit ordered a strawberry milkshake while Roland, not wanting to be rude, requested water.

"So, you work for Mr. Kaiba?" Kit asked as soon as the waitress was gone. "Are you a secret agent? I bet you do a lot of undercover work, huh?"

"No, I am merely Mr. Kaiba's business adviser," Roland answered. "I help him manage affairs concerning Kaiba Corp. But on occasion I will perform the duties of an MC."

"Wow, so you're really important then," Kit surmised, bobbing her head.

"What do you do? Aren't you a student?" Roland pondered out loud. He remembered seeing her file when she first applied for the job, but was not positive.

"That's correct. I'm a graduate student at Domino University. Psychology," She said with a wide smile. "It's nowhere near as exciting as what you get to do, but I like helping people. So that's why I picked psychology."

The two continued their small talk until their food was brought to them. They kept passing back and forth questions about their interests, family, and plans for the future. Roland had no idea over two hours passed of them just sharing stories, until his phone rang.

"Mr. Kaiba." Roland simply stated as he answered the phone.

"Roland, what's taking you so long? Are there problems?" Seto asked. He was concerned, but it was mainly due to Mokuba's nagging. He liked Kit and was worried that something might have happened to her.

"Is that Mr. Kaiba?" Kit said a tad too loud for comfort. "Hello, Mr. Kaiba! No hard feelings for firing me! TOTALLY UNDERSTAND!" Seto got silent on the other line, not sure what to make up this situation.

"Roland. Where are you?" Seto finally asked assuming it was not in the limo.

"Burger Land, sir. Miss Ivanov…" He started, but Kit's loud voice was once again heard.

"I told you to call me Kit, Roland."

"…was not able to eat dinner, so we stopped for food." Roland continued on with his conversation, praying to his sunglasses that his boss would not be too upset with him.

"I see," Seto said, but soon Mokuba's voice was heard.

"Where's Kit, is she ok?" Was now heard over the phone.

"Mokuba, I'm fine. Just finished eating dinner. I'll be going home soon." A grouchy Seto was once again control of the phone line. This simple phone call was getting too out of hand. Kit and Roland thought they heard Seto tell Mokuba to go to bed, but was uncertain.

"Roland, after you finish eating please take Miss Ivanov straight home, no stops."

"Yes, sir." Roland hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. That was the most confusing phone conversation he had ever had. The check was finally placed on the table, and Roland went to take it, however Kit was quicker.

"Remember, I'm paying." She wagged her finger and placed the gold card into the slot. "You can pay next time."

Roland got this adorable blank stare, and in his head he was thinking, _"Next time?"_ After Kit was finished paying they went back outside. Kit stuck by his shoulder towards the limo so Roland was able to this time open the door for her.

"Yay, chivalry isn't dead yet," she said before climbing in.

Roland made sure her arms and legs were safely inside the vehicle before shutting the door and taking his place at the wheel. The two enjoyed a fairly mild conversation between Kit giving him directions to her apartment. When he stopped in front of her home Kit turned to him with a remorseful expression.

"I'm sorry if I got you into trouble," she told him. "And forced you to eat diner food."

"No apologies are necessary," he replied genuinely. "I don't believe Mr. Kaiba will be terribly upset. And the food was amicable in taste."

Kit giggled. "You say some the funniest things," she said before unbuckling. "I hope we get to meet again sometime. Don't forget, you owe me a meal."

Roland gave a slow nod. "No, I won't forget."

Kit grinned and said her final goodnight and goodbyes before exiting the vehicle. Roland watched her until she was inside her home before feeling comfortable enough to drive back to the Kaiba manor.

When Roland got back to the house, he saw that Seto was still up and in the living room, but Mokuba was not there. For a moment he thought that he saw Joey there on the couch with his boss, however, his eyes deceived him. "Mr. Kaiba, Miss Ivanov had been taken safely home and understands why you had to fire her."

"Thank you Roland." Seto nodded his head in approval before drinking his ritual coffee. "There were no problems with the press?"

"No, sir. Miss Ivanov is quite capable of handling herself." Roland added, "Well if you excuse me sir, I'll be heading off for the night."

Seto dismissed Roland, but still stayed up in the living room. Roland turned around one last time to see his boss before heading to his quarters, and still thought that Joey was there, sitting next to the CEO. He wished he could have told Kit the truth along with all the other things they talked about at dinner, maybe a female's perspective would help with the predicament at hand.

* * *

><p>Tristan knocked on the door of Duke's house and waited for someone to answer. The door opened and there was Joey standing there looking surprised. "Hey, Tristan," Joey greeted. "Wanna come in?"<p>

"So this is where you've been hiding," Tristan said coming into the house. "I was wondering where you disappeared to, man."

"I got booted out of school for a week," Joey explained. "And I kinda left… I figured this would be the best place to lay low, ya know?"

"Guess that makes sense," Tristan agreed with a nod.

"Oh, hey there, Tristan," Duke said coming into the room and seeing the newcomer. "What brings you here?"

"Duke, why didn't you tell me Joey was here?" Tristan asked. "You know I was worried sick about him."

"I was just respecting his privacy," Duke replied with a shrug. "Besides, it was fun watching you fret like a mother hen that lost her chick."

"You jerk," Tristan said whacking him lightly on the arm. The three boys settled down in the living room and Tristan turned to Joey. "Okay, man. I wanna hear what you have to say. Tell me everything."

"Be careful what you wish for, Tristan," Duke warned with a suggestive smile.

Joey flushed, knowing exactly what Duke was getting at. So he took a deep breath and related the story to Tristan about how the whole thing between him and Kaiba got started, when they became a couple, and when Joey moved out of his house to live with the corporation president. He also explained how Seto was the reason why Joey started doing better in school and he was also the one who pushed him into applying for colleges. He left out the more personal parts of his relationship with Seto for his friend's sake. Tristan patiently listened but occasionally stopped Joey for questions. Duke said absolutely nothing but listened with piqued interest.

When Joey was finished Tristan ran a hand through his hair. "That's… even though I'm hearing it, I'm still having a hard time buying any of it."

"I know how ya feel," Joey told him with a laugh. "Even ta me it sounds crazy."

Tristan was silent for several moments before saying, "Well, regardless, thanks for telling me. At least now everything makes a little more sense."

Duke at last spoke up. "So, how far have you two gotten?"

"Come on, man, I don't wanna imagine that," Tristan said hiding his face in his hands.

Joey's face turned bright red, he didn't want to talk about that to anyone, let alone to his best friend who was just coming to terms with him being gay. "I'm not talking about mine and Kaiba's sex life," Joey finally spat out.

"So there is a sex life," Duke said in interests piqued even more.

"God, man, why did you have to say it like that?" Tristan commented, trying to block any imagery that was slowly entering his brain. Joey's face was even redder now, he backed himself into a corner and there was no way getting out. "Duke, just drop it, I really don't want to image my best friend and Kaiba kissing let alone doing that."

"Fine, I'll stop for now," Duke said resorting to twirling his black locks between his fingers. The three boys dropped all conversation for the time being, and watched the forgotten tv.

"Well, guys, I gotta get home soon." Tristan sighed getting up from the couch, "And Joey have you told Serenity yet about this temporary move?"

Joey's eyes widened, he never even thought to tell his sister, she could be worried sick about him if he found out he left Seto's house. "No, I haven't."

"You really should, man, that way she doesn't worry about you." Tristan scolded him.

"Maybe we should invite Serenity over," Duke suggested. Joey knew that Duke had a thing for his sister, and for him, which was hard for him to wrap his head around. However, for Duke that would be a dream come true, being surrounded by all the people who he is interested in.

"I'll call her tonight." Joey assured Tristan, "And we are not inviting my sister over." He said turning back to Duke.

"Well, see you guys later then." Tristan finally left Duke's place. _"Well at least Joey is doing better."_ Tristan thought as he began his walk home, _"And Joey really does seem to care about Kaiba. I really don't understand it still, but Joey does seem to care about him."_ Tristan sighed, _"But what about Kaiba? How does he feel about Joey really? I doubt he will ever tell me the truth though. But as Joey's best friend I gotta know."_ Tristan then turned around and began heading to the last place he would have ever wanted to go, the Kaiba Mansion.

Tristan was standing in front of the large gates, wondering if coming here was a good idea after all. _"There is no turning back now."_ Tristan pressed the buzzer and waited.

"Yes?" a female voice said over the intercom.

"I'm Tristan Taylor, and I'm here to talk to Mr. Kaiba."

"One moment please." The female voice said back. She picked up a phone and called her employer, "Mr. Kaiba, There is a Tristan Taylor here to see you. He doesn't have an appointment sir. Should I let him in?" Seto was silent on the other side of the phone, "Sir?" she asked again.

"Let him in and bring him directly to my study." Seto finally said and hung up his phone right away. _"If that cheerleader is here, he must know something about that mutt." _Seto thought, as he waited for his unexpected guest.

Tristan continued to wait, and finally the women's voice was back on the intercom and allowed him inside the premises. The maid was at the front door and lead Tristan straight to Seto's office. "Mr. Kaiba," she said softly knocking on his office door.

"Let him in." The harsh voice said over the wall. The maid opened the door for Tristan and then left leaving the two teenagers alone. "What do you want, Taylor? I'm busy." Seto was his normal cold self that Tristan knew so well.

"Kaiba, what are your true intentions with Joey?" Tristan decided to be forward, knowing with Kaiba you can't beat around the bush.

"Let me make something clear. The only reason I let you in was because you know where that mutt is. So unless you want to tell me where he is then this conversation is over." Seto didn't need to explain himself to anyone, let alone Tristan. However, with how little Seto said, his expressions said much more about his feelings towards his puppy.

"If I did know where Joey was, Kaiba, I wouldn't tell you." Tristan said back to the annoyed CEO. "I don't even know what Joey sees in you. All you are is a cold hearted ass that only cares about your business."

"I don't need to defend myself from anyone," Seto snapped back. "Now leave."

Tristan shot up from the chair, "You really aren't worthy of Joey, Kaiba, and I hope that you realize that since he left." Tristan left the office and was once again was on his way back home. _"I really don't know what I was thinking; I should have known that Kaiba wouldn't tell me anything. What is it that Joey can see that I can't? Maybe Yugi understands. After all, Yugi does seem to be the only one that Kaiba shows any public respect for."_

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Germany…<p>

A certain Zigfried von Schroeder was relaxing beside his pool in a robe enjoying a fruit cocktail drink with a pink umbrella in it. He grimaced a little as his sun was disrupted by the shadow of a younger man who had approached him, with hair a few shades darker than his tied back in a ponytail.

"Hey, brother," he said with a kiddish smile. "How's it going?"

"So far, all is vell," Zigfried said picking up his drink, stirring it a little before taking a sip.

"What do you mean so far?" Leon asked curiously.

"Nothing for you to vorry about," Zigfried assured in an oily voice.

One of the servants appeared at Zigfried's other side with a phone in hand. "Mr. Zigfried, you have a client on the line."

"I have some business to do, Leon, so ve vill have to continue zhis later. Now go and read your fairytale books like a good little brother. Go on," Zigfried spoke as if he were talking to a small animal or pet.

Leon looked slightly put out but did as he was told. Once his little brother was out of sight Zigfried took the phone call. After a brief exchange of words he hung up the phone looking very pleased. "Thanks to those photos and the press, several of Herr Kaiba's potential business deals are coming to me." He handed the phone back to the man before snapping his fingers. A maid approached with a notepad and pen. He took both from her and scribbled down a few notes before tearing the paper out and handing it to the gentleman. "You are to call this number and give the good sir on the other line those directions." He handed the paper and pen back to the maid and dismissed them both.

Zigfried picked up his martini glass once more and sipped from it, smiling devilishly. "By the time I'm through with Herr Kaiba, he vill never be able to show his face in public ever again!"

* * *

><p>KD: Stupid Zigfired, why can't he leave poor Seto alone? And poor Kit, losing her job, but at least she got a date out of it. :D And hooray! Joey and Tristan are friends again!<p>

Hello fellow readers. Sorry for the long space between posts. It's hard with work and all. We just hope that you are still interested and wanting to read this story. We know the posts are spastic right now, but we are doing our best. So feel free to give us a shutout to get our gears in motion in between posts.


	18. Real Live Soap Opera

**Chapter Eighteen: ****Real Live Soap Opera**

_Song for chapter:_

_Best I ever had - Vertical Horizon_

Tristan had come over to Duke's house the past few days, to spend time with his two male friends. He really wanted to tell Joey about how he went to go see Seto, and their brief conversation, but thought it would be best not to mention it. However, he did decide to go talk to Yugi about it. He was not sure how to approach his tiny friend about the situation, but he knew it had to be done if he was going to even try to understand that infuriating Seto Kaiba.

"Hey, Yugi," Tristan asked when school was getting out, it was the last day that they would be at school without Joey. His one week vacation that the principal gave him was coming to a close. "Can we talk about something in private?"

"Sure Tristan, we can go to the game shop and talk." The spiky haired teen replied back. The two got to the game shop and went up the stairs to Yugi's room to talk.

"Yugi did you know that Joey is living with Duke now?" Tristan started out.

"What? Why?" Yugi was in shock to this news. Tristan explained to Yugi about why Joey left and how he hoped it would make things die down."Well I guess that makes sense. I'm just surprised that Duke is so willing to help him. But what does this have to do with anything?"

"Well Joey explained to me how he and Kaiba became a couple, and I still don't get it; but Joey really does seem to care for the guy." Tristan started, "So I decided to go visit Kaiba…"

"Tristan you didn't!" Yugi scolded him.

"Ya I asked Kaiba, his true intentions with Joey, but as usual, he wouldn't give me the time of day." Tristan sighed, "But he did ask me to tell him where Joey was. I didn't tell him of course, and I kinda told him off, saying he was not good enough for Joey."

"Tristan, I know you're not fond of Kaiba, but he does obviously care for Joey." Yugi explained.

"I know, Yugi, that's why I came to you." Tristan sighed, "If anyone knew Kaiba best, it would be you."

"Well, I really don't understand their relationship myself, Tristan, but I trust Joey's judgment." Yugi said whole heartedly. "Kaiba may be rough around the edges, but obviously there is more to him than what we see. With all the times I have dueled him, he was always honorable and I knew I could rely on him. When it all comes down to it, he's a good guy." Yugi offered, not knowing how much more help he could be than that.

"I do trust Joey. It's Kaiba I don't trust." Tristan said back, "When in the past has he given us a reason to trust him? Remember Duelist Kingdom and Battle City when Kaiba almost left us on that island he blew up?" Tristan was now getting defensive.

"Tristan I really don't know how else to help you then. If you trust Joey, then why are you so worked up over Kaiba's feelings?"

"Joey is my best friend, and I don't want him getting hurt, especially with all that has been happening. I know Joey doesn't want or need an over protective friend right now, but it's just so hard knowing how Kaiba was in the past."

"Let's just support Joey the best we can. That's all we can do as his friends. I'm sure in time we will start to understand Kaiba better." Yugi replied with an optimistic smile.

"I hope you're right, Yugi." Tristan sighed, knowing that that was the end of the conversation.

* * *

><p>It had been a week, and Joey was finally getting used to living with Duke, and trusting him a bit more every day, but still had a hard time completely forgiving him. Joey was in the shower, debating if he was ready to go back to Kaiba or not. Most of the news seemed to have died down about him and Seto, but there were still a few persistent ones that wanted the interview of the lifetime with either teenager.<p>

Duke was finally home from school, it was the sports festival, and all of the girls couldn't help but to fawn over him as he was showing off. _"Pleasing the ladies really does work up a sweat."_ Duke thought as he decided to take a shower. Walking up the stairs he was lost in his own thoughts about today's flirts and flaunts. He stepped into the bathroom, not realizing the Joey was in the shower as well.

Joey had stepped out of the shower and was just drying off when Duke walked in. Both boys froze staring at one another. Joey's body was almost exactly how Duke imagined. He wasn't by any means ripped, but his body was still very well sculpted, nicely toned arms, solid chest, firm looking abs… Duke quickly glanced away before allowing his eyes to go too far down. He could already feel himself getting hard.

After getting over his initial shock Joey snapped out of it and covered himself. "DUKE, WHAT THE HELL?"

"Ah, sorry," Duke said for once at a loss for words. "I didn't realize you were in here."

"Oh, well, not to seem rude but, GET OUT," Joey exclaimed, feeling himself going red in the face, and not because of the hot shower.

"Right, sorry," Duke said making a quick retreat and shutting the door. He placed a hand over his mouth as he tried to control his hormones which were sky high at the moment. Oh if he could have just taken him there. "_I bet I could be a better lover for him than Kaiba any day."_

Duke heard the doorbell ring, pulling him from his erotic fantasies. He went back downstairs to the front door, wondering who it might be. Perhaps Tristan decided to drop by; he'd been doing that often lately.

He opened the door and almost shouted in surprise. Speak of the devil, who should be on his doorstep but Seto Kaiba himself, as if summoned by Duke's fleeting thought. "Can I help you?" Duke asked, regaining his steady composure.

Seto didn't wait to be invited in but shoved right past Duke and into his home. "Where is he, Devlin?" he demanded sounding thoroughly livid.

"Why yes, please come in," Duke said with biting sarcasm, shutting the door. "And just who are you referring to?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Kaiba said roughly. "I know the mutt is here." He rounded on Duke and grabbed him by the shirt. "I warned you the first time, Devlin."

"You only warned me about going to him," Duke said with a derisive smirk. "You never said anything about him coming to me. And I must say, he has a nice body."

Seto threw Duke so hard he ended up taking a hard tumble over the coffee table before landing on the carpeted floor. Seto approached the dice gamer and was preparing to show him why you don't mess with Seto Kaiba when he was sadly interrupted.

"What the heck's going on?" a freshly dressed Joey asked coming down the stairs. He stopped when he saw Seto standing over Duke who was on the floor for reasons Joey could only guess. "Kaiba…"

"Wheeler, out of all the places you could have come why here?" Seto asked as he watched his puppy walk down the stairs.

"Kaiba, what did you do to Duke?" Joey asked, ignoring his question, and causing the CEO to be aggravated even further.

"It's ok, Joey, I deserved it." Duke said rubbing his face, as he tried to get up.

Seto shot a menacing glare at Duke, which he understood as shut up, and did so. "Come on Wheeler, we are going home, and we will talk about this there." Seto grabbed Joey by the wrist and tried to drag him out, but Joey stood his ground and would not let himself be moved by Seto.

"No, Kaiba, I'm staying here with Duke." Joey broke Seto's grip easily, and stood his ground.

"No you are not, Wheeler, you are coming back with me."

"Kaiba, I'll come back on my own time not yours." Joey fought back, not surrendering to the enraged CEO.

"You seriously think that I'll want you back then?" Seto shot back, "If you don't come with me now, then don't bother coming back at all."

Joey's heart dropped at those words and he left like he was going to cry, but he would not do that, he could not show any signs of weakness in front of Kaiba. Roland and Mokuba burst through the door just to hear the last part Seto said.

"Mr. Kaiba, you don't mean that." Roland interjected shocked at how his usually calm boss was acting like an actual teenager for once.

"Don't I always mean what I say, Roland?" Seto shot back looking at his employee.

"Kaiba, why can't you ever respect or understand my choices?" Joey finally spoke back up, his voice not wavering."All you ever care about is if things go your way. And I have told you that numerous times before."

"You could have gone to anyone else, Tristan or Yugi, but you had to go to Devlin. After what he did to you and me. You seriously expect me to respect that? The last time I saw you with him, he looked like he was going to rape you. What do you think I would make of this?"

This was true and Joey knew that, although Joey did think Seto was being harsh saying all of that with Duke in the room. Indeed, Duke did feel remorseful about what he had attempted to do, but then there was also that darker part of him that still believed if he had followed through it would have been the best damn thing of Joey's life.

"Seto, please calm down." Mokuba spoke up, never seeing his brother this angry since possibly the duel these same two teens had in Battle City.

Seto looked to Mokuba and saw how terrified his little brother really looked right now. "Kaiba, the reason I didn't go to Yugi or Tristan is because I knew you would find me there. I needed some space and time to let all this blow over. Duke offered and I accepted." Joey was looking at Mokuba too, the young preteen also looked like he wanted to cry now as well.

"Fine then, Wheeler, stay here, but like I said earlier, don't bother coming back." Seto left the house without saying another word, but Mokuba and Roland stayed a bit longer.

"Please, Mr. Wheeler, reconsider coming back." Roland said looking hopefully and the blond teenager, "Mr. Kaiba, really cares about you, and well the fact that he found you here really hurt him."

"I can't do that, Roland. I still need more time. Besides, if I go back to Kaiba now, then I really am just his dog."

"Joey, I'm positive that Seto will take you back when you are ready." Mokuba said with absolute assurance, "Just please come back soon. I miss you too, it's not just Seto that wants you back."

"Mr. Wheeler, all you have to do is call, and I will come get you." Roland assured him. "And, Mr. Devlin, I'm terribly sorry about Mr. Kaiba's reaction."

"Yeah, Duke, I'm sorry about what my brother said about you." Mokuba said looking at the ground, "We don't even know how he found out that Joey was here." There was a silent pause, and Mokuba and Roland finally left the house heading back to the car to join Seto.

* * *

><p>The car ride was silent and thick with tension, neither Mokuba nor Roland wanted to say anything to the CEO that might set him off, but the tension was killing them both. "Seto," Mokuba finally spoke up, "How did you find him?"<p>

"His necklace I bought him for his birthday," Seto started, the spite in his voice was unbearable, "It has a tracking device in it. So does yours and mine. That's how I find you so fast when you get kidnapped."

"So that's what you were going to do in the attic that night" Mokuba thought finally putting the pieces together. "Seto, did you really mean what you said to Joey? That you don't want him back." Seto stayed silent not answering his brother, "Because, I refuse to believe that you can give up on Joey like that so quickly. You wouldn't have done all this if you didn't care about him. If you didn't love him, then it wouldn't be hurting you this much, and I can tell it is. Seto, you can't lie to me."

Seto's eyes became hard again, "Mokuba, you know better than anyone that I always mean what I say. I never went back on my word when we were kids and I will never go back on my word now. It's time for you to move on now, and realize that Joey won't be coming back."

* * *

><p>As soon as everyone left, Joey couldn't hold back his tears any further. He didn't want to seem like a wimp crying over this, but he couldn't hold it in any further. Duke was not sure what to do either; a real soap opera just happened in his living room and he didn't know how to take it. Did this mean that Seto and Joey were officially over? Even if it seemed like that, the younger Kaiba, and the driver seemed fairly intent on the fact, that Seto was just saying all that just to get Joey back.<p>

_"Does Kaiba really care about Joey that much? That he feels the need to resort to petty threats to get him back?"_ Duke though as he looked up at the distraught teen in his living room. _"I know I shouldn't be thinking this but I wonder if I can get Joey on the rebound now? I mean it can't hurt to try."_

Joey went up the stairs to the room he had been sleeping in for the past week without saying a word to Duke. All he wanted to do was get rid of all this horrible feelings in his heart, and go back to being happy go lucky Joey.

Duke was tempted to call Tristan, if anyone knew how to help Joey, it would be him, but at the same time, Duke didn't want to pry. He figured as of now it would be best to give Joey his space, and then just go from there.

* * *

><p>When Seto arrived home he went straight to his room and locked himself inside. He went to his king sized bed and sat on the edge resting his elbow on one of his knees and his face in his hand as he felt a pounding headache of the worst kind coming on. The stupid, stupid mutt. After everything that he, Seto, had done for him, and this was how he was repaid. What reason did he have for leaving? There was no need for it. They could've gotten past all this just fine.<p>

He raised his head and looked where atop his nightstand sat the photo of him and Joey. The only thing left of his puppy he had. He took the picture off the nightstand and stared hard at it.

"Why couldn't you just come back?"

* * *

><p>CM: Again, SO SORRY for the long wait. Things have been busy and couldn't find the time to sit down and edit. But I hope it was worth the wait. :)<p> 


	19. What is Dreams or Reality

**Chapter Nineteen: What is Dreams or Reality  
><strong>

The next morning at Kaiba Corp was not a happy one for many. Seto had not gotten a wink of sleep, thus furthering his already bitter mood. He was standing with his technical staff observing the latest simulation programs.

"Is the program ready for release yet?" Seto asked, his foot tapping rhythmically while looking at the various computer monitors.

"It should be ready within the week, sir," said the head technician.

"Mind telling me what's taking so long?" Kaiba inquired dangerously. They were closing in on the deadline, and Seto took pride in keeping a tight schedule. So this small snag was being quite irksome.

"Mr. Kaiba, I can assure you that all of us are working hard to prepare this new program," the chief stated in his defense.

"Then work harder," Seto told him. "I don't care if you have to pull all nighters. Get it done."

One of the associate technicians walked through the door with a tray of coffees in his hands.

"Hey, everyone, I brought the… ouch!" In his haste, one of the coffee cups spilled over onto his hand resulting in him dropping the whole lot. In seconds, coffee was splattered all over the floor and on several people's leggings.

Seto stared down at the green looking employee, clearly not amused. "Your name."

"U-um, Taki Ono, Mr. Kaiba, sir," he stuttered.

"You're fired," Seto stated harshly. "Clear your desk and get the hell out of my corporation." He left the room, leaving a scared party of scientists in his wake, as well as a very disturbed Roland.

He took out his cell phone and began dialing a number. "I better call Mr. Mokuba."

After a few rings Mokuba picked up the phone. "Yes, Mr. Mokuba, I'm afraid Mr. Kaiba is much worse off than we first imagined." He paused as Mokuba asked how bad was it? "He just fired someone for spilling coffee." Another pause. "Yes, of course I'll keep an eye on him. Yes… thank you, sir. Good-bye."

Roland hung up the phone with a sigh, knowing this day and many to come would be long, painful ones for them all.

* * *

><p>Joey had his eyes closed while he let the warm drops of the shower head fall onto his face. He wasn't sure how long he'd been in there. He wondered if he should start washing himself, but at the same time he was content with just letting the water roll over his body. He heard the shower curtain slide open and felt arms encircle him, causing him to yelp in surprise.<p>

"Relax, mutt, it's me," a low voice whispered in his ear.

"K-Kaiba?" Joey asked in amazement. He hadn't even heard him enter the bathroom.

"You've been a bad boy, mutt," Seto said, running a hand up and down Joey's wet, bare torso. The heat emanating from the CEO's touch seemed warmer than the water. "How do you plan on making it up to me?"

"Kaiba…" Joey repeated. This couldn't be real. No way could Seto be here. He was probably just dreaming. He felt the body behind him shift and a hand grab his face, turning it so that he was looking at Seto who, like him, was also devoid of any clothing and now getting wet from the spray of the shower head.

"I asked you a question, pup," Seto said sternly, the piercing blue eyes not wavering from Joey's.

Joey couldn't answer. Even if it was a dream, he didn't want to do anything to disrupt it. Seto became impatient for Joey to answer and guided the blonde's face up to meet his. Joey tasted Seto's lips and immediately a fire was ignited within him. The kiss quickly grew heated, fierce, wanting. Joey's hands slid up into Seto's hair, combing the soft wet strands with his fingers. He felt Seto's hands slide down to clamp Joey's butt and pulled their bodies closer together, creating passionate friction. Both of them were already hard with desire.

When Seto was finally done giving Joey's tongue exercise the former thug was panting heavily with lost breath. His gasps turned to moans when Seto's lips began to travel over other parts of his body and soon he was begging Seto to take him.

Hearing this plea, Seto reached past Joey and turned the shower off before taking Joey's hand and guiding him out of the shower. He placed him against the sink counter so that he was facing the mirror, not even bothering to dry off.

"Make use of that mirror, pup," Seto told him. "I want you to see yourself when I make you come."

"Heh… you're as twisted as ever, even in my dreams," Joey said with a breathy laugh. "Just hurry and do it."

Joey flattened his palms against the surface of the counter as Seto place one hand on Joey's hip and the other on his stomach. With their bodies still wet, there wasn't much need for lubrication. Seto was swift to move in and Joey moaned with the pleasurable pain he had missed for the weeks they'd been apart physically. Seto didn't even bother going at a slow pace; like a demon he drove deeper and deeper into Joey. Looking into the mirror, Joey saw himself half sprawled onto the counter, face flushed red with the heat of the moment, while Seto was above him with a face that was fighting not to crack. As Seto went faster and deeper, Joey could feel himself building up.

It didn't take long before he came, screaming Seto's name in the process, and felt the CEO's essence bury itself within him. He lay on the counter, face down, panting. His lover was still buried inside him, leaning against Joey's body for support while. He felt fingers running themselves through his thick mop of hair, still damp from the shower.

"You okay, puppy?" the owner of the hand asked.

"Yeah…" Joey breathed leaning up a bit so he could look at Seto. "I'm…." Joey blanched when he saw that the one speaking to him, the one running their fingers through his hair, the one leaning over him, was not Seto.

Brown hair had been replaced with black, blue eyes with green, as Duke Devlin's reflection smirked cockily at him before lowering his mouth to kiss Joey's ear. "Did the puppy like his treat?"

* * *

><p>Joey sat up in bed with a yell, startling another person in his room to yell. Joey looked around dazedly to see Tristan staring at him worriedly. "You okay, man?" the brunette asked uncertainly.<br>"You were moaning in your sleep."

"Yeah, I'm cool," Joey said quickly, wanting to forget what he had seen right before waking up. "When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago," said Tristan. "Duke told me what happened yesterday. Sorry, man."

"Not like it's your fault," Joey muttered while rubbing his eyes.

"That's the thing… I think it might have been." When Joey looked at him in confusion, Tristan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I kinda went over to Kaiba's place and tore him a new one. So I feel like I'm to blame."

"Don't worry about it," Joey told him. "He woulda come regardless. Trust me." He stretched his arms high and wide mid yawned. "What time is it?"

"Mid-afternoon," Duke answered as he strolled into the room. "You've been sleeping all day."

"Seriously?" Joey exclaimed in disbelief.

"I was beginning to think you were in a coma," Duke said with a chuckle.

"Joey, I think you need to get out of the city for a while," Tristan told his friend. "Why don't we take a road trip?"

"Huh? Where to?" Joey asked.

"Anywhere," Tristan said.

"To do what?" Joey asked again.

"We'll know when we get there," Duke replied.

"Come on man, what's with all the questions? Does it really matter where we go and what we do?" Tristan asked thinking that Kaiba really must have had an effect on Joey.

"I guess not. When will we go?" Joey asked his final question.

"Now, after you get dressed," Duke said. "I'll get the car ready. Come on Tristan."

_"Maybe this is what I need, just to get out,"_ Joey thought as he got ready to go. He headed down the stairs and saw the Duke and Tristan were packing a small cooler with sodas and some snack foods. After fifteen minutes the three teens hopped into Duke's convertible and began to just drive off. Duke had his radio blasting his hip hop, rap music at full blast for everyone to hear.

"Come on, man, can't we listen to something else other than this crap?" Tristan asked as he went to go change the radio.

"This music isn't crap," Duke said feeling offended. "Besides driver picks music."

"Then pull over so I can drive. I need some classic rock," Tristan teased back. Joey started to laugh at the two males in the front seat, arguing like an old married couple over something as trivial as music. Tristan looked back at Joey, "It's good to hear you laughing, man," he said quietly to himself, so Joey couldn't hear.

The car ride was fun for the most part, mainly Tristan and Duke were talking and Joey listened in. Joey was mainly just enjoying the view of nothingness and the wind blowing in his face.

"Hey look, a billboard for world's best ramen noodles," Joey said pointing to the billboard with the giant noodles on it.

"Then let's go," Duke said quickly switching lanes and going to the exit.

"Really?" Joey questioned.

"Why not? It's not like we got any plans. Besides, don't you wanna know if they really are the world's best ramen?" Duke asked with a laugh. The rest of the trip was like that, they would see a sign, just pull off at a random exit, and do something without any point. Mainly it was pertaining to food such as potstickers, crapes, soba, sushi, takoyaki, and toumorokoshi. Duke did flirt with several waitresses, and got several numbers. His flirtation knew no boundaries, especially with how easily girls would fawn over him.

Joey was having a good time with Tristan and Duke even though they did argue what felt like every ten minutes. It was finally night time, and Duke pulled off of the road. He grabbed three sodas out of the cooler and handed on to Tristan and Joey. "So, now what guys?" Tristan asked as he looked up at the sky.

"I don't know, but I'm stuffed," Joey said patting his stomach, "How many times did we stop for food?"

"I don't know man, I stopped counting at twelve," Tristan replied back.

"I had 32 girls flirt with me," Duke said. "I never get tired of counting that."

"Don't rub it in," Tristan said playfully shoving the green eyed teenager.

They continued to talk about everything from Duel Monsters, to what they plan on doing after graduation. Joey was so distracted that he did seem to forget about all that drama happening in his life. However, when things did seem so perfect, his mind did start to drift to Seto, wondering what he was doing this moment now, and if the CEO even did miss him.

"Joey, you ok?" Tristan noticed his friend was spacing out, and had a serious look on his face.

"Ya, I'm fine. We should probably be heading back soon." Joey shook his head, hoping that it would erase all images of the brunette CEO. _"How long will it take for me to move on?"_

Tristan drove back to Domino City, and Duke fell asleep in the passenger seat. "Joey?" Tristan asked after he knew for sure Duke was asleep.

"Ya, Tristan what is it?" Joey asked curiously.

"You were thinking about Kaiba, weren't you?" Tristan questioned, looking back at his friend in the rearview mirror.

Joey leaned forward in the back seat so he was closer to his friend. "Yah, I was."

"Why didn't you go back to him yesterday? If you don't mind me asking?" Tristan continued his query. "I thought you…loved the guy." Tristan paused before he said love, having to force himself to even say the word.

"Love?" Joey said his face turning red, _"The only time I ever told Kaiba that, was when we were arguing."_ Joey paused and took a breath, "I guess I didn't go back because I want to go back on my own terms; not his."

"Man, I know I don't fully understand you and Kaiba as a couple, but obviously he must really care for you. I mean, he did hunt you down and attempt to bring you back." Tristan sighed. "When I came over earlier today and you were still sleeping, Duke asked me not to bring up Kaiba around you and told me what happened. Then he brought up this road trip idea. But after hearing what happened yesterday, I knew I needed to talk to you about it man and tell you my feelings. I'm not saying what Kaiba did was right, and that you should go back to him either. But if you do care about the guy, then why stay with Duke? What's holding you back?"

"Even if I did go back to Kaiba, it's not like he would take me back. He made that very clear." Joey sighed.

"Come one man. Kaiba, may be cold hearted, but he does have a heart. A small heart, but I know he has one." Tristan looked back at Joey and saw how melancholy he looked. "Sorry man, if you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to."

"Nah, its fine Tristan," Joey said. "Thanks for telling me your opinion man. You gave me some stuff ta think about now."

"At least you have something to think about man, I'm just so confused, I don't know what to think anymore," Tristan answered truthfully. "Part of me wants to strangle Kaiba for you, and the other part just want you to be happy, even if it's Kaiba."

"Ya man, I can tell. I don't even think I understand your opinion of the situation anymore. But, don't bother worrying about it. It's my problem, not yours," Joey assured him.

"Well, were almost back to Domino City now. So you going back to school on Monday?"

"Ya man, I'll go to school on Monday. Not sure what to expect at school, but what's the worst that can happen now?" Joey asked feeling a little more optimistic about his future.

* * *

><p>Seto's office phone started to beep, meaning that his secretary was calling him, with a sigh he answered the phone. "Yes, what is it?" he questioned. Today, three of his clients mysteriously had cancelled their contracts, and he didn't want any more bad news.<p>

"Mr. Kaiba, you have a guest," she said almost puzzled. She didn't even have to say the name and Seto had a strong feeling who she was talking about. There was no other man alive that could confuse one so much. "It's Zigfried Von Shrouder."

"Let him in," Seto said back hanging up the phone.

"Herr Kaiba, I'm surprised that you agreed to see me. I know how busy you can be." The flamboyant German voice aggravated Seto even more than he remembered.

"Why did you come here Zigfried?" Seto questioned getting down to business.

"Vell, I was in town to meet vith some of my clients and I realized I never congratulated you on your news." A harsh pain was in Kaiba's heart when he heard Zigfried speak. "I must say you and vhat was his name? Joseph? I give you my best wishes vith your relationship vith him. I hold no qualms vith vhat he did. After all, I believe the saying goes, 'Vhat happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.' Also, congratulations on getting the job vith the casino. I'm sure Kaiba Corp vill do splendidly."

Seto was not amused with the pointless visit from Zigfried, or that he was mentioning Joey. That mutt was the last thing he wanted to be thinking of, but somehow, he was always reminded of the blond. _'What happen in Vegas, stays in Vegas? Like that's believable.'_ Seto thought. "If that's all Zigfried I suggest you leave. I don't have time for your trivial drabble."

"Of course, Herr Kaiba," Zigfried started. "I have business I must attend to as vell." Zigfried left Seto's office smiling wider than when he entered. "It looks like my plan has vorked very vell so far. Now to find Herr Joseph."

* * *

><p>AN: Thnks for reading guys. And sorry about the long wait between updates. We both have busy lives and it's not always easy to find time to get together to work on this fic. But we hope it is worth the wait. Until next time. And as always feel free to leave a review, they don't cost anything but a moment of your time.


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